Photo: from left, Mahadeb Kundu, Dr Usha Kundu and president of UWF Dr Martha Dunagin Saunders. (Courtesy: University of West Florida)
The University of West Florida’s College of Health has been officially renamed the Usha Kundu College of Health at the University of West Florida.
The renaming followed a gift last year to the University in excess of $5 million by Dr Usha Kundu, 71, and her husband Mahadeb Kundu, 72, who have lived in Pensacola where the University is located for nearly four decades.
The UWF College of health was created in 2015 when the university restructured its colleges, and it’s only the second time that a college is being rechristened to honor benefactor who has gifted the university $5 million or more. In January 2016, it was announced that Hal Marcus, also a resident of Pensacola and a leading textile management entrepreneur, gifted the university $5 million creating the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering.
At the official inauguration of the renamed college recently, during which there was also an unveiling of her portrait, Dr Kundu said, she was elated to make the gift along with her husband to a public university in Pensacola “where we’ve lived for more than half our lives.”
Dr Kundu grew up in rural Bihar, India, and graduated from the Rajendra Medical College at Ranchi University in 1969 before she immigrated to the United States to complete her residency in obstetrics and gynecology.
Dr Kundu opened her current private practice in Pensacola in 1983. She is a board-certified OB-GYN, a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a Diplomat of American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Kundu is affiliated with Sacred Heart Hospital, Baptist Hospital and West Florida Hospital.
“I have been extremely passionate about medicine since I was a young child,” said Dr Kundu. “We have lived in Pensacola for more than half of our lives and work hard for this community. Now is the time for us to give back to our community in a new way."
"We are thrilled with the opportunity to support the University of West Florida to provide better health education to the region. This gift will increase the development of a well-educated workforce that have the necessary skill sets for employment.”
Her husband, Mahadeb Kundu, is a Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of Institute of Engineers (India), a charter member of Structural Engineering Institute and member of ASCE codes and Standard Activities Committee. Mahadeb Kundu earned his Master of Business Administration from UWF in 1992 and served as an adjunct professor for the University of West Florida from 1984-86.
Their son, Sumit Kundu, is an MD and professional in the informatics field in New York.