On June 22, 2022, the Florida State University Board of Trustees unanimously approved a game-changing $10 million gift to the College of Business establishing the Dr. Persis E. Rockwood School of Marketing in honor of its late trailblazing professor emerita. The Rockwood school is believed to be nation's first marketing school named for a woman. The generous gift also provides life-changing support to marketing students and faculty members and will assist in bolstering the marketing program's ongoing rise in the national rankings.
A Gift with Reach
- A $3.5 million endowment for faculty support, including funding for professorships, emerging scholars, research and establishing the Dr. Persis E. and Dr. Charles E. Rockwood Eminent Scholar Chair in Marketing
- A $3 million endowment for student support, which includes scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students and funding for professional development
- A $2.5 million endowment providing discretionary funding for the Rockwood school's most pressing needs
- A $1 million sum for Legacy Hall, the college's new home, specifically to fund the Dr. Persis Rockwood Academic Programs Suite and the Dr. Persis Rockwood Academic and Behavioral Research Lab
About the Donors
Dr. Charles Rockwood (left) and Dr. Persis Rockwood (right) with Dean Michael Hartline (middle) at a previous gift celebration in 2019.
For much of their 54-year marriage, former professors Charles and the late Persis Rockwood worked on a shared goal to elevate their beloved Florida State through their gifts of teaching and financial support.
The Rockwoods met after arriving at Florida State in 1960 and quickly established themselves as thoughtful and influential scholars in their fields.
Persis, who taught marketing and management, ushered in an array of firsts for women during her distinguished career. She became the first woman, in 1960, to earn a Ph.D. in marketing from Stanford University; the first woman, in 1973, to attain the status of full professor of marketing at FSU; and the first woman to win the presidency of the Southern Marketing Association, of which she was a founding member. That organization evolved into the Society for Marketing Advances.
In 2018, she became the first woman inducted into the FSU College of Business' Charles A. Rovetta Faculty Hall of Fame.
During her academic tenure, she specialized in research areas such as location theory and retail leasing, and she served as a senior economist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She also championed diversity and equity and chaired a university committee that created policy on gender equity in faculty salaries.
Persis retired in 1989, and colleagues and students remember her for her humor, reason, thoughtfulness, graciousness and courage. She passed away on May 31, 2021, at the age of 97.
Charles, who worked in metal fabrication early in his career, earned a doctorate from Indiana University and taught economics at FSU until retiring as the Service Professor of Economics in 1995. While at FSU, he wrote numerous articles on macroeconomics, tax policy, social economics and marine resources.
Outside of academia, Charles has been a Rotarian for 52 years. He is a past district governor and a major donor to The Rotary Foundation. Charles holds Rotary's highest award for service, largely for his work in forming Rotary Youth Camp. He also holds the Frederick Clifton Moore Award from the Rotary Club of Tallahassee and its equivalent, the Homer Brinkley Award, from Tallahassee Northside Rotary.
The Rockwoods also have provided major gifts to FSU's College of Music and College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, and they have significantly supported the Tallahassee arts community.
