By Chandra Harris-McCray
Charlie and Moll Anderson believe dreams come true with education. The Knoxville couple pushed the Campaign for Tennessee past its $1-billion goal.
“Moll and I considered how we could best make a positive impact on this state and region. The university was the obvious answer,” says Charlie Anderson, a 3-year football letterman for the Vols who graduated with a degree in marketing.
The university is naming the College of Business Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in honor of Anderson—a member of the UT Board of Trustees and CEO of Anderson Media Corporation—and his wife, Moll—an author and expert in lifestyle, marketing, and communications, as well as a TV host.
The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation houses a unique program focused on giving students hands-on entrepreneurial experience in the real world and increasing the likelihood of students’ success in the program and then in their future business endeavors. The Andersons’ generosity will further enable the program’s faculty members to give their students practical experience to develop their entrepreneurial abilities so they can start their own businesses or contribute to the success of existing technology-driven companies.
“The university has already given so much to our family, it was just natural that we would want to give back to UT,” says Moll Anderson.
Their gift also has established the Moll R. Anderson Scholarship Endowment to provide scholarships for single parents, with special consideration given to those whose children participate in Boys and Girls Clubs programs.
“I believe in dreams,” she says. “I believe you can do anything you want to do if you set your mind to it. If you add an education to that determination, nothing can stop you.”
