Los Altos Hills residents Bill and Gay Krause recently donated $5 million to The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, South Carolina, that Bill graduated from in 1963.
Their donation, made in November, will go toward the establishment of the Krause School of Leadership and Ethics.
“All the students that go to the Citadel are cadets, so therefore the reputation has been about leadership and developing leaders,” Bill said. “I thought it was important that we emphasize ethical leaders.”
When combined with their previous donations, the Krauses now rank among the top three individual donors in the college’s history, according to a press release issued by The Citadel.
“I think that it was instrumental in shaping me as a young adult and enabling me to achieve the degree of success that I’ve been able to achieve,” Bill told the Town Crier. “The Citadel’s vision is to lead in the education and development of principal leaders, so what better place to have a school of leadership and ethics?”
In the press release, Citadel provost Sally Selden said, “This generous gift will allow The Citadel to take our education of principled leaders to the next level.”
The center will feature a curriculum that will build on the existing values and curriculum at The Citadel, according to Bill. Leadership curriculum for freshmen is centered on the school’s honor code. The curriculum for sophomores is about service leadership. Junior year features a course about ethics. Senior year is about defining how cadets were going to be ethical leaders upon graduation.
Bill said potential new courses at the Krause School of Leadership and Ethics could include ethics of business, military leadership and psychology of leadership.
“Bill and Gay Krause have been instrumental in The Citadel’s efforts to advance leadership and ethics education for more than 30 years,” Citadel President General Glenn M. Walters said in the press release. “Their support is not only in philanthropy, but also in leadership and wisdom. They are a driving force with The Citadel Foundation and a myriad of other campus organizations and projects. The Krauses’ impact on The Citadel cannot be overstated, and creating this new school is critical to advancing leadership and ethics education at our college.”
This donation to The Citadel is only part of the Krauses’ dedication to education. The Krause family has also funded ventures closer to home. Gay Krause, who was educated at Penn State, heads the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College, which has been training teachers for more than 20 years and is helping incorporate technology into pedagogy.
“First, an educated next generation of young people is essential to ensure we maintain our principles of a democratic society,” Bill said. “Next, a workforce that is well educated is essential to provide higher standards of living to all. And last, an educated next generation is essential to give us a better chance for peace in the world.”
Wide reaching impact
“The program has educated somewhere around 20,000 to 25,000 teachers in the Bay Area,” Bill said. “Every teacher during their career will influence somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 students. If you do the math, that’s like 20 million young adults who we’ve reached. That’s why we continue to invest and donate in education.”
Bill added that he and Gay hope to strengthen the American semiconductor and chip industry with their program at Foothill.
“One of the critical elements of the CHIPS Act by Congress is funding to provide young people with the proper skill set,” said Bill, who ran an ethernet company. “A second major program that we’re funding at the Krause Center is a program to educate teachers on how to educate students to be semiconductor technicians and engineers to complement the CHIPS Act.”
For more information on the Krause School of Leadership and Ethics at The Citadel, visit krausecenter.citadel.edu. For more information on the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College, visit krauseinnovationcenter.org.
