| 1. | U. of California at San Diego | T. Denny Sanford | He is chairman of the United National Corporation, the holding company of First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, in South Dakota. | $100 million | creation of the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, which will study the neurobiology of compassion, and work to instill that quality in physicians and help them avoid burnout |
| 2. | Northwestern U. | Jeff and Laurie Ubben | Jeff Ubben is chief executive and founding partner of ValueAct Capital, an investment firm in San Francisco. He earned an M.B.A. from Northwestern in 1987 and is a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. Laurie Ubben is a co-founder of the Bird School of Music, in San Francisco. | $50 million (pledge) | support for scholarships for undergraduate, graduate and professional-school students |
| 2. | U. of Houston | anonymous | n/a | $50 million (challenge pledge) | establishment of four new institutes, in the areas of energy, infrastructure, precision medicine, and global engagement; and support for hiring faculty members to staff the institutes |
| 4. | U. of Rhode Island | Thomas M. and Cathy Ryan | Thomas Ryan is a former chairman, president, and chief executive of CVS. | $35 million | $24 million to support research at the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, $10 million to establish a scholarship program, and $1 million as a challenge pledge for men’s and women’s basketball |
| 5. | Hampden-Sydney College | Pauley Family Foundation (Stanley F. Pauley) | Stanley Pauley is chairman and chief executive of Carpenter Co., a manufacturer of polyurethane materials in Richmond, Va., and a former college trustee. The company’s founder, E. Rhodes Carpenter, was a 1929 Hampden-Sydney graduate. | $30 million | support for construction of a new science facility that will be named the Pauley Science Center |
| 5. | Rutgers U. | Marlene Resnick Brandt | She is a 1980 Rutgers alumna who was formerly married to the billionaire hedge-fund manager David Tepper. | $30 million (pledge) | support for construction of a new Treatment Center and Residence and expansion of mental-health services for young people through the Rutgers Initiative for Youth Behavioral Health and Well-Being |
| 7. | U. of California at San Francisco | Marc and Lynne Benioff | Marc Benioff is founder and co-chief executive of Salesforce.com, a customer-relationship management platform, in San Francisco. | $25 million | establishment of the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine, which will house research programs to develop microbe-based diagnostic tests and new therapies to prevent and combat disease |
| 7. | U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Walter Hussman Jr. and his wife, Ben, and family | Walter Hussman, a 1968 UNC alumnus, is chairman of Wehco Media, a publishing company in Little Rock, Ark., that operates the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and other newspapers, magazines, and cable-television companies in six states. | $25 million | gift to rename the School of Media and Journalism as the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, with the goal of advocating the core values of objective, impartial, and ethical reporting |
| 9. | Ohio U. Foundation | Violet L. Patton | She is a 103-year-old investor and a retired assistant professor at Miami University, in Ohio, who also taught costuming and interior design at Rutgers University, and a 1938 Ohio University alumna. | $22 million (pledge) | support for capital improvements to facilities at the university’s Patton College of Education and the Violet L. Patton Center for Arts Education |
| 10. | DePaul U. | anonymous | n/a | $20 million | creation and endowment of the Grace School of Applied Diplomacy, which opened this fall within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and which has the goal of educating diplomats from a wide range of professions |
| 11. | Texas A&M U. at Kingsville | anonymous | n/a | $19.5 million (pledge) | support for the university’s King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management through a gift that includes 7,800 acres of Texas ranch land, valued at $16 million, that master’s-degree students can use to conduct research, along with $3.5 million in cash that will also support the university’s veterinary-technology program and provide scholarships for veterinary students |
| 12. | Purdue U. | anonymous | n/a | $15 million | gift to rename Purdue’s new football-training facility the Kozuch Football Performance Complex |
| 13. | U. of Central Florida | Gary and Barbara Bryant | Gary Bryant, former president and chief executive of the American Pioneer Life Insurance Company, has led several life- and health-insurance companies in Florida. | $13 million (pledge) | establishment of an endowment for scholarships for student-athletes at the university |
| 13. | U. of Memphis | Gary and Barbara Bryant | Gary Bryant, former president and chief executive of the American Pioneer Life Insurance Company, has led several life- and health-insurance companies in Florida. | $13 million (pledge) | establishment of an estate-funded endowment to be used at the discretion of the university’s athletics department to benefit student-athletes and athletics |
| 15. | Stanford U. | Marc and Lynne Benioff | Marc Benioff is founder and co-chief executive of Salesforce.com, a customer-relationship management platform, in San Francisco. | $10 million | establishment of the Stanford Microbiome Therapies Initiative, which will use microbes that inhabit the body to create and test new treatments |
| 15. | U. of Rhode Island | Michael D. and Elizabeth C. Fascitelli | Michael Fascitelli, a 1978 university alumnus, is a managing partner at MDF Capital and the Imperial Companies. Elizabeth Fascitelli is a managing director at Goldman Sachs. | $10 million | support for the university’s College of Engineering, with $5 million to pay for research and laboratory equipment in the new Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering and the remaining $5 million to endow a fund to be used for the dean’s priorities |
| 15. | U. of South Florida Health | Taneja Family Foundation (Jugal and Manju Taneja) | Jugal Taneja is a former chairman of GeoPharma, a pharmaceutical company in Florida. | $10 million | gift to rename the university’s College of Pharmacy the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy |
| 15. | Vanderbilt U. | anonymous | The donor is the family of an individual who has been receiving treatment from a Vanderbilt physician for a blindness-causing eye condition. | $10 million | support for regenerative visual neuroscience research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute to develop therapies for eye diseases |