Bondurant family supports RU

Many families have identified with and supported Radford University throughout the institution’s history. Several of these families have been instrumental in establishing scholarships, funding a diversity of academic, athletic and student programs, as well as providing research opportunities. One such family, well known for its unwavering support of RU, is the Bondurants.

Most RU students and alumni are familiar with the Bondurant Auditorium in Preston Hall, named for the late Kenneth Bondurant, a former member of the Radford University Foundation board of directors and a co-founder of the RU Arts Society. He died in 2004 at the age of 52 after a battle with cancer and was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Radford University Foundation.

Through the decades, the Bondurant family has generously supported the Arts Society, RU Athletics, the Art Museum, the Covington Center for Visual and Performing Arts, the Flossie Martin Art Gallery, the Selu Conservancy, the Frano Jelincic Memorial Scholarship, the Martin Athletic Scholarship and the Dr. Eugene C. Fellin Endowed Scholarship.

"The Bondurant family has been a significant part of the institution, and I have been very fortunate that one of the areas they have supported is the arts," said Joseph Scartelli, dean of the RU College of Visual and Performing Arts. "Lil Bondurant, who passed away March 20, along with her husband, Hix, was ever-present in that support. She was a most gracious matriarch of the family that remained central to so much of our growth and evolution in the arts at RU."