Pictured, from left, are Diana Robertson, KU's Director of Student Housing, Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, Carl Krehbiel and Marlesa Roney, Vice Provost for Student Success. Kathryn Krehbiel is seated.

 9/17/07

KU formally announces new gift created for maintenance of new scholarship hall

LAWRENCE – A $400,000 gift from KU alumnus Carl Krehbiel will endow a permanent maintenance fund for the Floyd H. and Katherine Krehbiel Scholarship Hall. KU Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway formally made the announcement Saturday during an event at the Dennis E. Rieger Hall.

The Krehbiel scholarship hall, scheduled to open next August, is adjacent to Dennis E. Rieger Hall, located at 1323 Ohio. The new hall, which will house 50 men, was designed to be the mirror image of Rieger Hall, home to 50 women. The Krehbiel Scholarship Hall, named for Krehbiel’s parents, is KU’s 12th scholarship hall for students and the sixth scholarship hall for men.

Hemenway praised Krehbiel for his generosity in providing not only his $4 million gift to build the hall, but also his additional gift to maintain it.

Carl Krehbiel graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1970 with a dual degree in Germanic languages and literature and international relations. An ROTC participant, Krehbiel lived in KU’s Stephenson Hall in the late 1960s and studied abroad his senior year. He also studied at the University of Southern California, where he earned master’s and doctorate degrees, and at the University of Munich.

A Vietnam veteran and Green Beret, he served in the U.S. Army for 20 years. In 1992, he took over the family business, Moundridge Telephone Company, following the death of his father. Elected to the state legislature in 1998, he served as a representative for the 74th District until 2006.

Carl Krehbiel has many family connections to KU. His grandfather, Carl C. Krehbiel, was a 1913 alumnus. His father – a Battenfeld Scholarship Hall resident – and his mother played in the KU band for basketball games in the 1940s.

His gifts and construction of the new scholarship hall will be managed by KU Endowment, KU’s official fundraising organization. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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