St. Leo University graduate donates $4 million

St. Leo University online graduate donates $4 million to build new business school

An Arizona businessman who earned two online degrees from Florida's St. Leo University is donating $4 million to help his alma mater build a new business school.

Don Tapia earned his bachelors degree in business administration through the Center for Online Learning in 2005 and returned to the university for an online MBA, which he received in 2007.

The gift, which is the largest in the university's history, will be used to help build a facility to house the university's School of Business and will be named in appreciation of Tapia's gift, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The complex will add 50,000 square feet to the university's main campus and will have nine classrooms, a large lecture hall, computer labs and a broadcast technology suite. The building is set to open in 2011.

Tapia lives in Arizona and owns Essco Wholesale Electric, which was the largest Hispanic-owned company in the state in 2008.

St. Leo University's Center for Online Learning, an accredited online degree provider, offers degree programs regardless of location and reaches students in more than 33 countries.