Posted on September 19, 2011

University of Missouri-Kansas City Receives $32 Million to Expand Business School

The University of Missouri-Kansas City and the UMKC Foundation have announced a $32 million gift from H&R Block co-founder Henry W. Bloch to construct a new facility that will house the university's graduate and executive business programs.

A longtime supporter of the university, Bloch endowed the school of business administration — now known as the Henry W. Bloch School of Management — in 1986. The largest single gift in UMKC history will support construction of the Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013.

Citing the success of UMKC's Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation as an influence for his philanthropy, Bloch hopes to establish the university as a regional and national center of entrepreneurship. The gift announcement coincided with the release of Princeton Review's list of the top business schools, which ranked the UMKC Institute's graduate and undergraduate programs fourteenth and twenty-first in the nation, respectively.

"I chose to make this significant gift because now is the right time," said Bloch. "I stand behind the chancellor and Dean Tan's purposeful vision for the Bloch School and have already seen them execute successful strategic initiatives that will propel the school toward national and international renown. The new mission and vision of the school both respect and directly tie into the legacy of Kansas City and align with what this community wants and needs from its business school."