WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Auburn Trustee Gives Millions To Architecture College

Auburn Trustee Gives Millions To Architecture College

An Auburn University trustee has given a generous financial gift to the College of Architecture, Design and Construction. It's part of the university's "It Begins at Auburn" capital campaign.

Earlon McWhorter, along with his wife, Betty, has given the college a $5 million endowment. About $3 million will be split and used to supplement the salaries of the future dean of the college, the future department head of Building Science and the Design-Build Masters program. The other $2 million will go toward the Eminent Scholar Chair of Building Science.

"It's where I actually became financially successful by getting this degree. We want to see this college continue in its excellence. It's reached a level of excellence that's beyond anything we've ever had," McWhorter said.

McWhorter graduated from Auburn with a degree in Building Science in 1968. He's president of McWhorter and Co., Inc., an Alabama-based general construction company. He also owns McWhorter Properties.

The university's "It Begins at Auburn" campaign had a goal of $500 million. It passed soared past that amount in July. The College of Architecture, Design and Construction has now passed its own goal of $20 million.