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Ira A. Fulton hugs UVU President Matthew Holland during the "Roots of Knowledge" unveiling event Friday at Utah Valley University in Orem. It was also announced Friday that the university library will be named after Fulton and his late wife, Mary Lou.

Dominic Valente, Daily Herald

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Students study for their final exams at Utah Valley University on Friday, June 26, 2015, in the library. SAMMY JO HESTER, The Daily Herald

Sammy Jo Hester, Daily Herald

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Eight years after its dedication, the Utah Valley University library has a name.

The library will be named the Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton Library, after the philanthropist and founder of Fulton Homes and his late wife, an educator. The Fultons have donated more than $300 million to various causes, most of which has gone toward education.

The announcement came Friday afternoon during the unveiling of the “Roots of Knowledge” stained-glass mural in the library.

Fulton has requested UVU not disclose the amount of the gift to the university.

“The impact that the Fultons have had on this institution, its students, and its future cannot be overstated,” UVU President Matthew Holland said in a press release. “The path to university status would have undoubtedly been a more difficult one to travel were it not for the Fultons.

“Our library stands as a symbolic representation and reminder of our university transition and, as such, it is fitting that it will bear the Fulton name.”

The announcement was one of several made Friday, including a donation from the Fultons that will create an endowment fund for the library and another that will support maintenance of the mural.

In 2006, the Fultons launched a matching challenge campaign, the Fulton Challenge, to encourage donations to UVU. Ira Fulton also petitioned the Utah Legislature to make the institution a university.

Holland mentioned at the unveiling that Fulton agreed to donate to the “Roots of Knowledge” as soon as he saw the pencil sketch of the project and had to be pulled out to see the actual windows. 

“All they needed was a glimpse,” Holland said. 

Fulton said he couldn’t help but get involved.

“What really sold me on this project was seeing it,” Fulton said.