Bob and Maggie Stout Donate $5 Million to HPU
HIGH POINT, N.C., March 27, 2017 – Robert “Bob” and Maggie Stout of Greensboro are supporting High Point University’s School of Education with a multi-million dollar gift. The Stouts, longtime business, civic and city leaders in the Piedmont Triad, have donated $5 million to HPU.
Bob Stout is a lifetime High Point University Board of Trustee who retired from Steel Bar Corp. in Greensboro. He served as chairman for Goodwill Industries, the Greater Greensboro Open (now the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour) and a number of other groups in the Triad. He graduated from the University of Tennessee, where he played football, and served in the U.S. Air Force. Maggie Stout grew up in Kernersville and worked as a medical secretary. Her mother was a first grade teacher at Forsyth Country Day School.
The Stouts have a strong history of supporting HPU and have previously established a scholarship for business. They are also strong supporters of several nonprofit organizations, including the United Way of Greater Greensboro. They are members of Sedgefield Presbyterian Church.
“Bob and Maggie’s stewardship exemplifies the caring spirit that we model on our campus,” says Dr. Nido Qubein, HPU president. “The impact of this gift will benefit not only our future teachers, but the lives of students in their classrooms.”
In recognition of the family’s commitment to their community, HPU will name the School of Education in their honor.
The Stout School of Education offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in areas including elementary education, middle grades education, secondary education, special education and STEM education, as well as a doctoral degree in educational leadership. The school’s undergraduate elementary program is ranked nationally in the top 10 percent by the National Council on Teacher Quality.
The school also houses robust literacy and LEGO Education initiatives such as the “Come Build with Us” LEGO events, which have welcomed more than 10,000 children to focus on creativity-based, problem-solving activities.
A new 31,000-square-foot, LEED-certified facility opened in 2012 to house the education and psychology departments in technologically advanced classrooms, computer labs and offices. It features high-tech educational equipment, such as smart boards, a children’s book library, math and science touch screen games, a methods lab designed to look and feel like a real elementary school classroom, a Mac lab and psychology research booths.
In addition to producing future teachers for schools across the nation, more than 300 HPU School of Education graduates are teaching in the Triad.