international
Jann and Tom Rudkin
2/11/08
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas now has a place that visiting international scholars can call home. On Saturday, Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway led a ceremony to officially open KU’s International House.
KU alumni Tom and Jann Rudkin, Los Gatos, Calif., provided a $250,000 gift to KU Endowment to renovate a historic two-story home at 704 W. 12th St. in Lawrence. KU Endowment acquired the property in 2001 from the Frank Pinet family and made it available for university use. The fully furnished International House offers five private bedrooms with shared living areas, including a kitchen, dining room, gathering rooms, office space and laundry facilities.
The Rudkins, both 1973 KU graduates, are committed to international education at KU. Tom Rudkin has served on KU’s International Program’s advisory board since 2001.
“We love old homes and we like to keep them vibrant and in use,” Tom Rudkin said. “This particular project was so interesting because it gives great visibility to the university’s international programs. It builds a microcosm of the global community here on campus, and it gives visiting international scholars a place to stay while collaborating with KU scholars.”
Support from the Rudkins has brought a number of KU projects to fruition in recent months. The Wilna Crawford Community Center was created through a renovation gift from the Rudkins and an estate gift of a home from Juanita Strait. Another gift from the Rudkins helped with construction of The Commons in Spooner Hall, a joint project of the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Biodiversity Institute and the Spencer Museum of Art.
Tom Rudkin has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from KU and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin. Jann Rudkin has bachelor’s degrees from KU in chemistry and anthropology. In 1984, she earned a master’s degree in cybernetic systems at San Jose State University. She is a member of the KU Endowment Board of Trustees and serves on the development committee.
During Saturday’s ceremony, Tom Rudkin announced that the first-floor gathering room had been named after Diana Carlin, the former dean of KU’s graduate school and international programs. Carlin played a key role in establishing the International House. She took a leave from KU in June to participate in a year-long dean-in-residence program with the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C.
The Rudkins’ gift was made to KU Endowment, an independent, nonprofit foundation serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.
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