Queens University of Charlotte Receives Transformative Gift to Elevate Learning Society Lecture Series

Queens University of Charlotte announced a $1.5 million transformative gift from the Bob and Susan Salvin Impact Fund on Thursday, March 26, at the Learning Society’s spring lecture. This investment in the Queens Learning Society is intended to elevate the quality and national prominence of the Learning Society’s speaker series, deepen student engagement with recognized thought leaders, strengthen the university’s liberal arts mission, and enhance Queens’ visibility within Charlotte and beyond.

A Gateway to the “College Town” Down the Street

The Salvins’ connection to Queens runs long and deep. An avid reader, Bob Salvin reminisces about his time spent as a youth at what is now the Myers Park Library. His family also spent a lot of time on campus, including performances by his wife, Susan, with Sweet Adelines. Susan’s daughter Kristin, a recognized expert on clinical wound care, is a 2005 graduate of the Queens nursing program. When Bob Salvin’s demanding travel schedule finally eased, the couple looked across the street from their home and saw something they had been meaning to explore.

“We said, we live across the street from a school,” Bob Salvin recalled. “Let’s go down there and find out what’s going on.”

What they found was the Learning Society, which quickly felt like home. “We see the Learning Society as a gateway to a vibrant university community that’s here for all of us,” said Bob Salvin.

Their involvement grew from there, extending to athletics, Arts at Queens, the Friends of the Library, and the annual Salvin Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition. The Salvins also invest in Queens students beyond the lecture hall, opening their home for events, mentoring students, teaching professional preparedness, and showing up in the kind of personal, hands-on ways that leave a lasting mark. But it was the Learning Society’s potential — and a growing gap between its ambitions and its budget — that inspired their latest investment.

Students at the Center

At the heart of the Salvin gift is a belief that the Salvins share: that Queens students must be at the center of the Learning Society experience. Not only seated in the audience, but on the stage, too.

The Learning Society’s student engagement model is unique to the Queens campus. Weeks before each event, students work closely with faculty to immerse themselves in a speaker’s work, connecting the lecture topic to what students are learning in the classroom. Then thought-provoking questions are created, and the students lead a dynamic discussion culminating with questions from the audience.

“We both feel strongly about education and how important it is,” Susan Salvin said. “This is a way that helps stimulate young adult minds, as well as our community at large, and to intersect with each other. And hopefully it will be even more in the future than it’s been in the past.”

“The Salvins are not simply philanthropists. They are in the room, they are invested in our students, and they believe deeply in what Queens means to Charlotte,” said Queens Acting President Jesse Cureton, MBA ’02. “This gift to the Learning Society comes at a pivotal moment for our university, and it is a testament to what happens when generous, visionary people decide they want to make a difference in their own backyard. We are profoundly grateful.”

“Bob and Susan Salvin have believed in Queens at every turn — from our student-athletes to our entrepreneurs, and now to the intellectual life of our campus and community,” said Lori Ann Summers, Ed.D., vice president of university advancement. “This gift is a statement about what Queens is becoming. When our students take the stage alongside the most compelling voices of our time, they are not just witnessing greatness; they are part of the conversation. That is what a Queens education looks like, and the Salvins are making it possible at every level.”

A Magnet Investment

The Salvins describe the gift not as a one-time contribution, but as a catalyst. “We see this as a magnet ongoing investment; and our intent is to be able to continue to fund it after we’re gone” Bob Salvin said.

The gift is powered by a remarkable entrepreneurial journey. Bob Salvin founded Salvin Dental Specialties, Inc. out of the trunk of his car and built it into a global biomedical company whose instruments and surgical products have enriched the lives of millions of patients worldwide. The company was sold to private equity in 2023.

“We never expected the company to get to the value that it was when we sold it,” Susan Salvin said. “But because we felt so blessed through our success, we wanted to give back to the community that we lived in, and that helped make it all possible.”

There is something Bob Salvin finds profound about what that success has made possible. “There’s a magic in going into a room and seeing people who don’t know us, and people that we don’t know enjoying something that would not be possible without a gift from Susan and me,” he said.

In Service for the Future

For the Salvins, this gift is also an investment in Queens’ future — particularly as the university moves forward following its recent merger announcement, which will make it a key part of one of the largest private universities in North Carolina.

They see this gift as part of the spark that elevates the university, helping a beloved institution step fully into the spotlight it has long deserved. With Charlotte welcoming new residents every day and Queens’ profile growing through its recent merger, the Salvins believe the moment calls for investment that matches the opportunity.

Bob Salvin has served on the Queens Board of Trustees since July 2019, in addition to being the founder and CEO of Salvin Dental Specialties, Inc., an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, a 2024 Queens University Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame inductee, and recipient of the North Carolina Governor’s International Trade Award and the Gateway International Trade Award, among other honors. Susan Salvin is a retired pediatric nurse and former nursing director of Presbyterian Hemby Children’s Hospital, recognized as a Great 100 Nurse in North Carolina in 1995. They are longtime President’s Circle members of the Learning Society.

The Queens Learning Society welcomes community members through annual memberships and individual ticket purchases. For more information, visit the Learning Society website.

Read about the March 26 lecture, AI and the Future of Everything with Nita Farahany and Nicholas Thompson, including how students and faculty interact with the topic.

Photos by Tricia Coyle