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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe quaint campus at Franklin College, a private institution about 20 miles south of Indianapolis, is about to get a prominent new asset.
Using a $15 million gift from 100-year-old Virginia Staff Shannon, a 1945 Franklin graduate, the college plans to build a two-story academic facility featuring a mock courtroom for pre-law students and an investment trading lab aimed at business majors.
Shannon’s donation is in honor of her late father, Charles B. Staff, an attorney and judge who worked in Franklin until his death in 1953. The college will name the new building the Charles B. Staff Center in his honor.
The college will also launch the Charles B. Staff School of Business and give the existing pre-law studies program his name.
Shannon was inspired by her father’s “intellect, work ethic and generosity of spirit,” the college said Monday when announcing the donation. The family lived just a block away from the Franklin College campus, and Shannon remembers having picnics with friends in the wellhouse.
Shannon worked for 42 years as an elementary school teacher, followed by 33 years in quality control with the Philip Morris Corp. As a young widow, she worked hard to raise her two daughters and have successful careers, Franklin College President Kerry N. Prather said in written comments.
“Her devotion to her father and her love for Franklin College have coalesced into this visionary gift that will enhance two of our most successful academic programs and provide an impressive tribute to Judge Staff,” Prather said.
Shannon called her father “an unusual man,” due to his selflessness.
“He thought nothing of helping literally anybody,” Shannon said in written comments. “People stopped by our house at night and on weekends asking for his advice, and my father always made time for them, just as he did for my brother and me, even though he was very busy. He was just a very special person.”
More than a century after her father’s graduation, the college will enshrine his name on the campus. College leaders plan to build the Staff Center at the intersection of Branigin Boulevard and Monroe Street, next to the Von Boll Welcome Center.
It will house classrooms, offices, collaboration spaces and conference rooms for the School of Business and the pre-law studies program. Plans also call for a small auditorium and covered patio.
The gift is the largest in the institution’s 200-year history, according to the college. It is expected to cover the full cost of construction. The college did not share an exact groundbreaking or completion estimate for the facility.
The gift is part of “Franklin Forward: The Campaign for Franklin College,” a fundraising drive to bolster the college’s endowment so the institution can thrive through challenges in higher education. The 5-year campaign runs through June 30, 2028.
For three straight years, the college has seen record new-student enrollment numbers. Franklin welcomed 310 new students for the fall academic term, bringing total enrollment to 969.
It has recently expanded on-campus facilities through the addition of the Center for Tech Innovation, which completed renovations in 2023, and the Johnson Memorial Health Athletic Annex built in 2022.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the age of Virginia Staff Shannon.
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