Former Missouri Professor Gives $4 Million for Music Center

Longtime University of Missouri professor Michael Budds has donated $4 million for a music studies center at the university.

The university announced Wednesday that Budds’ donation will be used to create the Budds Center for American Music Studies. Budds taught music at the university for nearly four decades until retiring as a full-time faculty member this year. He teaches one class per semester.

Budds was inducted into the Missouri Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Columbia Missourian reports Budds is the last surviving member of his immediate family and said the center is a way to memorialize his parents and siblings.

The center will be in the Fine Arts Building in the music school. It will promote American music through research and performance, and will collect music memorabilia and academic material for research.