News Releases
9/21/05
A family with strong ties to the University of Kansas and the state of Kansas has pledged $500,000 for a new gateway for the northeastern edge of the Lawrence campus, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced today.
The gateway will be built near the intersection of 13th Street and Oread Avenue. KU alumni Jill Docking and her husband, former Kansas Lt. Gov. Thomas Docking, pledged the gift for the $600,000 project. State resources will be used to fund street improvements that are part of the gateway’s construction.
“This is an outstanding way to honor the legacy of the Docking family and provide a fitting entrance to the University of Kansas,” Hemenway said. “This gateway will improve the visibility of this historic entrance to the campus and is an integral part of KU’s Campus Landscape Master Plan.”
Pending review by the Campus Historic Preservation Board and Historic Resources Commission,
the gateway will be constructed beginning in spring 2006 and completed that fall. The gateway will feature a fountain with vertical jets of water fitted into a round plaza and will include landscaping and engraved stone signage. The traffic booth that coordinates access to campus will be moved south on Jayhawk Boulevard.
The university intends to name the gateway for the Docking family, which includes two former governors and several KU alumni.
“Jill and I hope our support of this valuable enhancement to the campus will return to KU some of the immense benefit our family has received over many generations,” said Tom Docking.
Tom Docking, lieutenant governor from 1983 until 1987, earned his undergraduate, law and MBA degrees from KU, completing his studies in 1980. He is a partner in the Wichita law firm Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy. Jill Docking, history ’78 and MBA ’84, is vice president of investments at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., in Wichita. She was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1996. Tom’s brother, William Docking, political science ’73, law and MBA ’77, is a former member of the Kansas Board of Regents.
Tom and Jill Docking live in Wichita and have two children: Margery Docking, a junior at KU, and Brian Docking, English ’02 and law ’05. Brian Docking is married to Emily Cassell Docking, Spanish ’01 and law ’05.
KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university and one of the largest.
Return to News Releases