Mark and Nancy Hollis donate $1 million to MSU to create scholarship, help update Spartan Stadium

(WXYZ) - Michigan State University Athletics Director Mark Hollis and his wife Nancy are giving $1 million to the school in order to create a scholarship endowment and help pay for improvements to Spartan Stadium.

The money will also be used for arts programming at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum and the Wharton Center for Performing Arts.

Both Hollis and his wife are alumni of the school. In a press release they said it was important that their gift have a strong academic component.

“I believe in the theory that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Mark Hollis said. “We have amazing things happening across our campus, and everyone should be supportive of the collective accomplishments. Providing half of our gift to academic areas is our way of saying thank you to those that work at our university.”

Much of the money, $460,000, will be used to establish the Hollis Family Endowed Scholarship, which will be given to Michigan resident undergraduate students with strong academic credentials in need of financial aide.

An additional $40,000 will be spread between the Broad Art Museum and Wharton Center.

The remaining money will be used for the North End zone project at Spartan Stadium. It will be used to help build the room that will host recruits for all of the varsity athletic teams.

The project is part of a significant renovation of the North End Zone of Spartan Stadium. It is designed to address maintenance needs and update the locker rooms, media center, concession areas and restrooms.

“From my position, I understand the impact that first-rate facilities have on the quality of an intercollegiate athletics program,” said Hollis in a press release. “My family and I wanted to join other donors to support this expansion of Spartan Stadium, which is critical to the future of the football program and will improve the entire athletics program.”

Hollis has been MSU's Athletic Director since 2008. His wife works in the study abroad program.