Scholarship gift supports full-time MBA students at KU
A recent gift from a KU School of Business alumnus will bolster support for students in the full-time MBA program. Stan Lybarger, a 1973 graduate, created a scholarship to fund full tuition and fees for an in-state MBA candidate. The scholarship will be perpetual in nature and positively affect the lives of future generations of MBA candidates.
Lybarger believes that education is a gift, and supporting students is important to him for many reasons. He knows the sacrifices his parents made to help him and his brother obtain a college education. Through this MBA scholarship, he is honoring his parents while supporting future generations of MBA graduates.
His parents instilled a belief in the importance of education into Lybarger and his older brother, Hugh, from an early age. His father was a small business owner in Kansas City, and he credits his work ethic to his parents, who taught him to be diligent and put his best effort into everything he does, including school.
With those lessons, he chose KU for higher education. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in business administration, and remained at Kansas to complete his MBA. His brother also graduated from KU with a degree in chemical engineering.
After graduating, Lybarger joined the management training program with Bank of Oklahoma in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he remained for 40 years. He served the company in a variety of roles, including 24 years as president of the bank and its parent company, BOK Financial Corp. He retired in 2013 and remains on the board of directors as vice chairman.
“My work experience growing up and my education made it possible for me to succeed beyond my expectations,” he said. “From my perspective, a gift of education is truly the gift that keeps on giving.”
