By BRAD COOPER, The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE - The University of Kansas has collected a $10 million gift from a retired business executive, the biggest contribution ever from a single individual, KU officials announced Friday.  Charley W. Oswald of Edina, Minn., a 1951 KU graduate in economics, donated $6 million for KU's department of economics, $1 million for the business school and $3 million for unrestricted uses.

Oswald, 74, served more than 20 years as head of National Computer Systems Inc., now NCS Pearson, the nation's biggest test-scoring company.  He said Friday that the gift was a way of repaying the university for the influence it has had on his life.  "I'm just very proud of my time there," Oswald said.  "It's just a wonderfully positive environment for the state of Kansas to have."  In recognition, KU has named its undergraduate economics program after Oswald.  "Charley Oswald used his economics education from KU to launch a very successful career," Chancellor Robert Hemenway said in a statement.  "We are delighted that he has remained among our most loyal alumni, establishing many funds that will continue to benefit generations of economics and business students at KU."

Of the $6 million Oswald gave to the economics department, $4 million created two distinguished professorships, and $2 million established the Oswald Opportunity in Economics Fund, which will pay for graduate teaching fellowships, undergraduate scholarships and other program support.  One of the distinguished professorships has already been filled. KU has recruited macroeconomics scholar William Barnett of Washington University in St. Louis. He plans to join the department next August.

"It's a big boost to morale, knowing that alumni value the educational opportunities we provide," said Joseph Sicilian, economics chairman.  "This will allow us to do things we could never do with traditional state support."  Having two top-flight scholars on the faculty will help recruit other high-quality professors and attract top students to KU, Sicilian said.

Oswald grew up on his family's dairy farm outside Hutchinson, Kan.  He served two years in the Marines before enrolling at KU in 1948 and majoring in economics.  After he earned a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1953, he joined Jostens Corp. in Owatonna, Minn.  He became the company's president in 1968.  In 1970, he moved to National Computer Systems, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer until 1994.  The company, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., was acquired last year by the British firm Pearson in a transaction valued at about $2.5 billion.  NCS Pearson provides testing services to state education departments, school districts, the federal government and businesses.  It has a plant in Lawrence.  Oswald has six children.  His wife, Sally Pegues Oswald, who graduated from KU in 1950, died five years ago.