WCSU in Danbury Receives $1 Million Donation for Honors Program

Farooq Kathwari, CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, and his wife, Farida donated $1 million to Western Connecticut State University to create an endowment that will support the university’s Honors Program.

The Connecticut State Colleges & Universities Board of Regents for Higher Education acknowledged the gift and approved renaming the program the Kathwari Honors Program.

Kathwari said he decided to support WCSU with this gift in part because Ethan Allen has been involved with the university ever since Nathan Ancell moved the company headquarters to Danbury in 1972. The Ancell School of Business is named for the former Ethan Allen CEO.

“Western has been part of our environment here,” Kathwari said in a statement. “I appreciate Western because it focuses on students who are not necessarily coming from well-to-do families. They are serious and they attend Western to make a good career for themselves. Helping them, to me, is important.”

With this gift, the honors program is expected to grow to 500 students.

“The Honors Program is very important,” Kathwari said in a statement. “They are students who perform well and perhaps can use the extra help to further their education and careers. I believe these students will make a difference.”

Kathwari’s gift will support student scholarships and expansion of the Kathwari Honors Program. The building that will house the program, formerly Alumni Hall, will be named the Irfan Kathwari Honors House, in memory of the Kathwaris’ son. Alumni functions, along with development, communications and related departments, will be relocated to another building on campus.

Image via WCSU

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