Written by special contributor Lance Fleming

Dr. Bill and Mrs. Donna Petty

If – as ACU President Dr. Phil Schubert (’91) said on Friday, Oct. 13 – the College of Business Administration has been an engine that has driven ACU’s extraordinary growth over the last 35-plus years, then the man who put the key in the ignition was Dr. Bill Petty (’64). 

So, it was only natural that when the Mabee Business Building – which Petty and others planned, raised money for and saw through to its opening in 1986 – needed a facelift, Petty’s name would adorn one of the newly remodeled areas of the facility. 

And that’s why Schubert, Petty and his wife Donna (Guinn ’64), ACU Dean of COBA Brad Crisp (’93), and numerous family and friends were on hand the Friday afternoon of Homecoming 2023 in the Mabee Business Building to celebrate the grand reopening of the Bill and Donna Petty Atrium. 

Dr. Brad Crisp, Dr. Phil Schubert, Kelly Shewmaker, Bill and Donna Petty

The atrium renovation is part of a multi-million-dollar upgrade of the building that opened in 1986, allowing business classes to move out of the Hardin Administration Building and into a modern facility. The renovation project began out of the need to replace the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system in 2020. Still, it grew to involve all major spaces inside the building – including classrooms, labs, offices, and the atrium, which reopened this semester after four summers of construction. 

The Bill and Donna Petty Atrium features upgraded technology and appearance to better welcome students, faculty, staff, alumni, and business and technology leaders into the building and facilitate networking between these groups.

The atrium project was made possible thanks to a generous lead gift from an anonymous donor and substantial commitments from family and friends. It also received significant support during the ACU Gives event last April 25-26, when dozens of donors – many of whom the Pettys mentored – contributed an additional $100,000 toward the $1.4 million renovation. 

But the project got its push in 2020 when Crisp began meetings and conversations about the viability of raising the necessary money amid a global medical emergency. 

“I vividly remember conversations with some of our key donors just as the pandemic hit in 2020, and I asked them if we should continue with the project,” Crisp said at the dedication ceremony. “And 18 families gave us the courage to fund the first phase and tell us it was time to move forward. Across the four phases, we had more than 280 donor families contribute more than $3.4 million toward the total cost of almost $9 million.” 

The Petty Family

But when it comes to COBA and the Pettys, that should come as no surprise. COBA has been a catalyst for the remarkable growth of the university and its global reputation since the Mabee Business Building opened to students 37 years ago. 

Petty was called back to ACU from Texas Tech in 1979 and became the founding dean of COBA in 1981. The newly formed college set up shop in the administration building, which hosted Bible classes and other programs at the time, putting available space at a minimum. 

“We didn’t have room to grow, and it was limiting the number of students we could support,” Petty said in an article in the Spring-Summer 2023 issue of ACU Today.

That’s when Petty went to work, calling on friends and alums alike to raise the necessary money to build the Mabee Business Building. He has often given credit to Jozell Brister (’61), associate professor emerita of management sciences and former associate dean of COBA, and other dedicated faculty members. 

But it was Petty who pushed, prodded, and cajoled to raise the money the university needed. The generosity of alumni and friends and a lead gift from the Mabee Foundation made the building a reality. And once the building opened, Petty, the faculty he hired, and the students he and other outstanding faculty taught helped propel the university to greater heights. 

“Over the last 30 or 40 years, the College of Business Administration has been an engine for Abilene Christian University, fueling the trajectory of growth and escalation that we have enjoyed,” Schubert said. “That would not have been the case without the bold vision that Bill Petty brought to ACU, seeing all that could be in front of him with Donna by his side supporting him to bring that bold vision to reality.  

Another former student, Kelly (Stites ’91) Shewmaker, brought a calculator to the ceremony, the same one she used in Petty’s Financial Management class. The same calculator she thought would help her cruise through the course. 

“I have this Hewlett-Packard 12C calculator that I used as a student,” she said at the ceremony. “I was convinced that it would be an easy A class after I found out you could calculate every answer to every question. But on the first day of class, Dr. Petty told us that for every test and every problem, we would be using the HP 12C. Then, we would have to calculate it by hand to show that we knew how to use the technology, calculate every problem by hand, and understand the calculations. I kept that HP 12C calculator as a trophy of sorts because I survived his class.” 

In his brief remarks at the ceremony, Petty once again thanked Brister, his classmates, and friends Jack Griggs (’64) and Dr. John C. Stevens (’38) for persuading him to leave Texas Tech and return to ACU to be part of the business faculty. He also recalled the numerous times he and his wife hosted students in their home over the years, building the kind of relationships that would lead to two former students thanking him from the podium and many others attending the ceremony. 

“I never felt more called by God than when I was called to return to ACU,” Petty said. “Those were 10 ½ of the best years of our lives. We raised our children in the shadow of ACU, and then they went to school here, so they have a deep love for ACU just like we do.” 

And, it’s that deep love for ACU and sense of calling that Petty passed along to his students, including Schubert.  

“I tell people all the time that I had the best experience anyone possibly could have had at ACU,” Schubert said. “I found people here at ACU, especially in the College of Business Administration, specifically people like Bill Petty, who saw things I didn’t see in myself. I found people who challenged me and encouraged me to be more like who God called me to be. My guess is that many others would tell the same story about the transformation that took place because they had people like Bill and Donna come alongside them and encourage them to be more like the people that God had called them to be. We’re all so incredibly grateful for them both. We’re grateful for their example of selfless service, amazing generosity, and bold vision to be more of who God calls us all to be.”

Note: Some information from this story appeared in the Spring-Summer 2023 issue of ACU Today.