Kansas University will have a new gateway — complete with a fountain — on its east side by fall 2006, thanks to a gift from a well-known Kansas family with government and KU ties.

KU alumni Jill Docking and her husband, former Kansas Lt. Gov. Tom Docking, have pledged $500,000 for the $600,000 project, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced today.

The gateway will be built near the intersection of 13th Street and Oread Avenue.

State resources will be used to fund street improvements that are part of the gateway’s construction, KU officials said.

“This is an outstanding way to honor the legacy of the Docking family and provide a fitting entrance to the University of Kansas,” Hemenway said.

The chancellor said the gateway will improve the 13th Street entrance to campus and is part of KU’s campus landscape master plan.

Construction would begin in the spring, pending a review by the Campus Historic Preservation Board and the city’s Historic Resources Commission. The project would be completed by fall 2006.

The gateway would feature a fountain with vertical jets of water fitted into a round plaza and will include landscaping and engraved stone signage.

The traffic booth that coordinates access to campus from the site will be moved south on Jayhawk Boulevard.

KU plans to name the gateway for the Docking family, which includes two former governors and several KU alumni.

Tom Docking was lieutenant governor from 1983 through 1987. He earned his undergraduate, law and MBA degrees from KU, completing his studies in 1980.

He is a partner in the Wichita law firm of Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy.

Jill Docking, who received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1978 and an MBA in 1984 from KU, is vice president of investments at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in Wichita.

She was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 1996.

Tom Docking’s brother, William, received a bachelor’s degree in political science from KU in 1973 and a law and MBA degrees in 1977, is a former member of the Kansas Board of Regents.

Tom and Jill Docking live in Wichita and have two children, Margery Docking, a junior at KU, and Brian Docking, who received an English degree from KU in 2002 and a law degree in 2005. Brian Docking is married to Emily Cassell Docking, who received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from KU in 2001 and a law degree from KU in 2005.