Alumni couple give $1 million to KU law school

A San Francisco alumni couple has donated $1 million to support scholarships and classroom renovations at the Kansas University School of Law.

Lydia Beebe and Chuck Doyle each earned two degrees from KU. Beebe earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1974 and her law degree in 1977. Doyle earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from KU in 1975 and a law degree in 1978.

“My husband and I felt like our education enabled us to have the lives that we have,” said Beebe, who works as corporate secretary and chief governance officer of Chevron Corp.

Doyle held management positions with United Airlines, where he worked from 1985 until his retirement in 2007.

Beebe’s parents, brother and brother-in-law graduated from KU Law. Beebe is serving on the law school’s advisory board for KU’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, Far Above: The Campaign for Kansas.

“That’s really what inspired us to do this now, at this point in our lives,” Beebe said. “As government resources get harder and harder to come by, it’s more important for schools to build their endowments and really stay competitive.”

Stephen Mazza, dean of KU’s law school, said he appreciated the gift, which fits in with the school’s fundraising priorities.

“What it allows us to do is attract and retain the types of law students that we want to come to KU,” he said. “Other law schools are being very generous with their scholarship dollars, and we’ve got to step up and provide comparable scholarship support.”

All of the couple’s gift will be spent on scholarships except for $45,000 that will be devoted to renovating classrooms.

Mazza said the law school was anticipating the announcement of several more major gifts in the coming months. He said private support allowed KU to move much more quickly toward its goals.

“We just want to accelerate the progression of KU,” he said.