The Northern Star wants to thank the Baustert Family Foundation for their recent historic $40 million donation for the Health and Technology Center.
This generous gift not only shows the Foundation’s commitment to advancing healthcare technology but also exemplifies the impact that philanthropy can have on our communities.
NIU received the largest single gift donation in its history from James and Theo (Bahwell) Baustert through the Baustert Family Foundation with the $40 million going directly to the project itself.
“This is a gift that aligns with a very real, personal experience the donors had at NIU, as well as with the focus of their family foundation on education and health technology, so it really couldn’t have been a more perfect match,” NIU President Lisa Freeman said.
Construction of the Health Technology Center is set to begin in 2026, with Lincoln Hall, an unused residence hall, expected to be torn down in 2025. The center will be built on the Northwest corner of Lucinda Avenue and Annie Glidden Road, in the same place as Lincoln Hall.
“This building will bring together our health professions, programs, with biomedical engineering, with some of the simulation labs to teach things like anatomy, and it’s just going to prepare NIU students to be the leaders of the healthcare workforce going forward, and I am just so excited about it, it’s really hard not to be excited about $40 million,” Freeman said.
As we reflect on this gift, we must acknowledge the leadership of the Baustert Family Foundation to improve the lives of healthcare and its vision of growing the health and technology field for the future.
The donation means a lot to health students like Sergio Dondiego, a junior nursing major, as well.
“I’m gonna be long gone, graduated – hopefully – (before the center is built) but, but I’m just excited for the fact that, like, we get, like, improvements in technology,” Dondiego said. “I know for us nursing students, a lot of that stuff that we get is, like, we don’t get too much because it’s very expensive.”
Thank you, Baustert Family Foundation, for your commitment to providing NIU with the health and technology they need to advance to a higher level together as a community.
