WICHITA, Kan. (AP) An engineering building at Wichita State University has a new name after the widow of a late Cessna executive committed $3 million to the school.
Starting this month, the Engineering Research Building began going by the name Donald L. Beggs Hall. Beggs stepped down as Wichita State’s president in June after 13 years.
Velma Wallace says Beggs and his wife, Shirley, have had a “tremendous” influence on the university and community. She says naming the building after Beggs is a “testimony to his many contributions.”
Her gift will help pay for bonds used to construct the building.
Wallace is the widow of aviation pioneer Dwane Wallace, who is credited with guiding Wichita-based Cessna Aircraft Co. to dominance in the light plane industry. He died in 1989 at the age of 78.
