Raleigh couple Stephen and Judy Zelnak unexpectedly donated a $4 million  endowment to the Poole College of Management to help fund years of student and faculty research, recruitment, trips and initiatives within the college, according to Ira R. Weiss, dean of the Poole College of Management.

Weiss is the first person to receive the title of Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Dean’s Chair, and is now the benefactor of the first endowed deanship in NC State history.

In a press release, Stephen Zelnak, former chairman and CEO of Martin Marietta Materials, said one of the main reasons he chose to support NC State was its leadership and how the university has been reorganized.

“With respect to the Poole College of Management, Ira Weiss has been there as dean now for about nine years,” Zelnak said. “A lot of quiet leadership. You need to watch what he’s doing, and he’s moving the parts and just making it better and better as he goes.”

Weiss said the endowment highlights the Poole College of Management as one of the best programs in the country that continues to garner community support.

“It shines a light on the school, showing it clearly has the support of the community and in this case it’s a non- alumni who invested, which is very impressive that they felt it important enough to invest in the leadership of the college,” Weiss said.

According to Weiss, the gift is a discretionary fund and will be used to pay for various enterprises within the college.

“The majority of that fund will go toward investments in the college, in essence whatever is of greatest need for the college, this becomes the fund we can tap into,” Weiss said. “We’ve already committed money to student trips, as well as faculty research for the summer, it can be used to support student groups, support faculty travel, support a scholarship or even attract a new faculty member.”

The endowment will be received in the form of an annual income, about $120,000 for the next 33 years, according to Weiss.

A benefit of the endowment is that unused funds at the end of each year will not be taken back.

“The nice part about it is that these funds as opposed to state funds don’t evaporate at the end of the year,” Weiss said. “So if the $120,000 is not spent in one year, it will carry on to the next year and be added on for future investments.”

Weiss said the gift was unexpected but was wonderful to receive.

“Steve and Judy Zelnak have been great supporters of the college, and Steve called me and said, ‘We want to leave a portion of our estate to the Poole College of Management’ and decided to fund the income of the endowment,” Weiss said.

Zelnak said he wants to see the Poole College of Management become one of the best management schools in the country by improving the quality of the faculty as well as the students.

“That’s one of the things that additional resources give you the opportunity to do,” Zelnak said. “You can measure in terms of student inputs, the quality of the students. We would like to see, as opportunities arise, for the addition of even higher caliber faculty to go with great faculty that is already there.”