Texas Woman’s University has received a record $30 million gift to support its college of business from teacher-turned-entrepreneur Merrilee Kick, a TWU alumna who is the founder and CEO of the mega-beverage company, BuzzBallz.

The gift will fund an institute focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, an endowed chair, and an entrepreneur-in-residence program, each of which will also bear Kick’s name. Additionally, the gift will fast-track plans to construct a new building for the college.  

The gift is the single largest ever given to Texas Woman’s and comes a little more than a year after the Dallas-based Doswell Foundation gave a then-record gift of $15 million to the university to establish an aviation program, which begins classes this fall.