The University of Mary Tharaldson School of Business is $1 million away from its fundraising goal after it announced a $1.5 million donation Monday.

Kirk and Janet Lanterman donated the money to the University of Mary for a scholarship endowment. Interest earned on the endowment will fund $2,000 scholarships for undergraduate business students in the Harold Schafer Emerging Leadership Academy. The recipients must have graduated from a high school in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

"With the Lanterman Scholarship, I'll be able to attend" next year, senior Courtney Jones said. She is a business major in the emerging leadership academy and a graduate of Bismarck High School. Scholarships have helped her attend the school, she said, starting with a scholarship from a competition high school students attend.

There are 500 students in the emerging leadership academy. A majority of the students graduate with a job or graduate school lined up. Most graduates of the program stay in North Dakota. This appealed to the Lantermans, and is behind their donation.

"Young people in North Dakota is the right investment to make," Kirk Lanterman said.

His wife agreed.

"We're proud to support the state any way we can," Janet Lanterman said.

She and her husband work in the cruise industry. Janet Lanterman started Cruise Specialists in 1987 and was a registered nurse on cruise ships. Kirk Lanterman is chairman emeritus and former CEO of Holland America, a cruise ship line.

With this donation, $7.5 million has been raised for the building and scholarships. The university is in its third phase of fundraising for the remaining $1 million. The campaign started out as an internal campaign, then went to president club members, public affairs vice president Neal Kalberer said. Among the new groups of people it will solicit for donation is alumni, he said.

The goal is to have the money raised by Aug. 1, 2008. The building, which is already under construction, is slated to be finished in fall 2008.

The 29,000-square-foot building is located just northeast of the Harold Schafer Leadership Center.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)