A photo of the CNU campus.

A photo of the CNU campus.

Smithfield Foods has committed a gift of $5 million through its Smithfield-Luter Foundation to Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. The funds will be used to establish the Joseph W. Luter, III School of Business as well as a $1 million leadership scholarship program that will be matched dollar for dollar by CNU.

The gift is the largest single donation that CNU has ever received. School President Paul Trible’s announcement of the donation drew a standing ovation from a crowd at the school’s Music and Theatre Hall in the Ferguson Center for the Arts.

He said that it was, “the kind of transformational gift that will inspire the success of our students and faculty and encourage others to generously support the University.”

The Smithfield Foods Leadership Scholarship Program will give a total of 50 scholarships a year. Recipients will be awarded $10,000 over four years as well as an extra $2,000 to encourage participation in study abroad programs. The students will also take part in CNU's President's Leadership Program, which includes special lectures and a 100-hour public-service requirement.

Trible said that joining the school with the Smithfield and Luter names would be an equally beneficial partnership. Both the company and the school started as small operations in Virginia towns and have grown exponentially.

The $5 million gift is the largest single donation given out by the Smithfield-Luter Foundation. CNU joins a list of schools that the foundation gives to that includes Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Johnson & Wales.

“I have always felt strongly about the importance of contributing to the community and to the people with whom we come into contact every day,” said Joseph W. Luter, III. “With operations primarily in small towns and rural communities across America -- and now, across the world -- I have always encouraged Smithfield Foods, Inc. and its subsidiaries to focus on helping their local communities in a direct way.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, CNU’s School of Business offers excellent undergraduate programs in finance, accounting, economics, management and marketing. The quality of these academic programs was recently underscored by the awarding of accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which is the most sought after quality indicator of any school that offers business programs and demonstrates CNU’s commitment to excellence. CNU is one of just 39 institutions that offer an undergraduate-only business program that is accredited by AACSB.

Smithfield-Luter Foundation gifts & scholarship summary

• $5 million gift to Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia
  
  
• $25,000 to Johnson & Wales University to establish a scholarship fund for Smithfield Foods, Inc. employees’ children and grandchildren. The Smithfield-Luter Foundation will contribute $25,000 annually to the university for the next three years, totaling $100,000 over a four-year period.
  


• Established in 2002, The Smithfield-Luter Foundation provides and funds scholarships for dependent children or grandchildren of full-time or retired employees of the Smithfield Foods, Inc. family of companies at Wake Forest University, Iowa State University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University (Virginia Tech). For more information, click here.