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Recent Private Gifts to Higher Education (November 2017)

By  Chronicle Staff
November 19, 2017

Recent gifts of $25 million or more led to the naming or renaming of a business college, a science hall, an economics department, an engineering department, and an institute. One major gift, worth more than $100 million, came in unusual form: as real estate in the commercial business districts of several major cities.

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Recent gifts of $25 million or more led to the naming or renaming of a business college, a science hall, an economics department, an engineering department, and an institute. One major gift, worth more than $100 million, came in unusual form: as real estate in the commercial business districts of several major cities.

RankInstitutionDonorDonor backgroundGift valuePurpose
1. U. of Maryland at College Park A. James and Alice B. Clark Charitable Foundation (Alice B. Clark) Ms. Clark’s late husband, who died in 2015, was chairman of Clark Enterprises, a holding company, and Clark Construction Group. $219.5 million support for need-based scholarships, graduate fellowships, professorships, a new engineering building, and programs in the A. James Clark School of Engineering
2. U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Larry and Beth Gies Mr. Gies is president, founder, and chief executive of Madison Industries, a holding company in Chicago. The couple met at the university; he graduated in 1988 and she in 1989. $150 million support for programming and scholarships in the business school, which the university renamed the Gies College of Business
3. U. of Chicago Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund (Kenneth Griffin) Mr. Griffin is founder and chief executive of the hedge fund Citadel, in Chicago. $125 million support for financial aid, research, and the recruitment of more professors in the economics department, which will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
4. U. of Hawaii-Manoa Jay H. Shidler founder and managing partner of the Shidler Group, a commercial real-estate company based in Honolulu, and a 1968 university alumnus $117 million (cash and land) support for improvement and expansion of the Shidler College of Business, with the returns on the donated property in several major U.S. cities potentially making the college tuition-free within 40 years
5. U. of Notre Dame Kenneth and Pamela Ricci Mr. Ricci, who graduated from the university in 1978, is a principal of Directional Aviation Capital, a Cleveland holding company that manages private aviation corporations. $100 million (pledge) unrestricted use
6. U. of Chicago Richard and Amy Wallman Mr. Wallman is a former chief financial officer and senior vice president at Honeywell International. Ms. Wallman retired as an audit partner at Ernst & Young in 2001. The couple earned M.B.A.s at Chicago in the 1970s. $75 million scholarships for M.B.A. students and other support for the university’s Booth School of Business
7. U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill John L. Townsend III and his wife, Marree Townsend Mr. Townsend is a retired senior adviser at the New York investment company Tiger Management Corporation. Ms. Townsend owns Marree Townsend Interiors, in Connecticut. $50 million (pledge) $25 million in artworks to the university’s Ackland Art Museum; $10 million for the College of Arts & Sciences and its Institute for the Arts and Humanities; $10 million for the Kenan-Flagler Business School; $1 million for athletics; and the remainder for other programs
7. U. of Oregon Anonymous n/a $50 million strategic investments in the university, as chosen by President Michael Schill, that have so far included new endowed faculty positions and a media center for science and technology; a Presidential Fund for Excellence will disperse the money, which is being given over five years
9. U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Steve and Debbie Vetter Mr. Vetter is chief executive of Ennis-Flint, which makes bike-lane pavement markers and other traffic-safety materials, and an operating partner at the investment firm CenterOak Partners. He and his wife, who are both 1978 university alumni, are founders and owners of Tarheel Properties. $40 million (pledge) $20 million to match gifts made to a scholarship fund for students from military families; $10 million for the Kenan-Flagler Business School; and $10 million for athletics.
10. Milwaukee School of Engineering Dwight and Dian Diercks Mr. Diercks, a 1999 alumnus and a member of the university’s Board of Regents, is senior vice president of software engineering at the California technology company Nvidia. $34 million support for construction of a new center, to be named the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall, that will house a supercomputer and classrooms and laboratories for teaching artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, and other technologies
11. St. Norbert College Patricia A. Schneider and family, in honor of her late husband, Donald J. Schneider Mr. Schneider, who died in 2012, was chairman emeritus of the trucking company Schneider National. A 1957 alumnus of the college, he taught finance and business administration there and was a member of its Board of Trustees. $30 million support for the university’s endowment
12. Boston College Philip Schiller and his wife, Kim Gassett-Schiller Mr. Schiller, a 1982 college alumnus, is senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple $25 million support that resulted in the naming of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, which will be housed in a new science building
12. U. of California at San Francisco, School of Nursing David Mortara Mr. Mortara founded Mortara Instrument, a manufacturer of noninvasive cardiology products and electrocardiogram technology in Milwaukee. $25 million creation of a Center for Physiologic Research, to improve ECG monitoring systems and combat “alarm fatigue,” which occurs when clinicians become desensitized to alarms on devices
12. U. of Texas at Austin, Cockrell School of Engineering Hildebrand Foundation (Jeffery D. and Mindy Hildebrand) Mr. Hildebrand, a university alumnus and vice chairman of the University of Texas system’s Board of Regents, is founder and chief executive of Hilcorp Energy Company, an oil and natural-gas company in Houston. Ms. Hildebrand is a university alumna. $25 million support for the university’s department of petroleum and geosystems engineering, which was renamed for the couple
12. U. of Wisconsin at Madison Ted and Mary Kellner Mr. Kellner, a 1969 university alumnus, is a cofounder and former chief executive of Fiduciary Management, an investment firm in Milwaukee, and a cofounder and executive chairman of Fiduciary Real Estate Development. Ms. Kellner is a 1968 alumna and a former teacher and guidance counselor. They are co-chairs of the university’s capital campaign. $25 million (pledge) support for athletics, scholarships, faculty, and programs in education, business, and other areas

Note: Gifts and biographical information were compiled from news articles, news releases, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s database of charitable gifts. The database compiles gifts of $1 million or more from 2005 to the present. The value of gifts is based on information from institutions or donors at the time the gifts were promised or received. In cases of stock, property, art, and other noncash donations, actual value may have increased or decreased since the gifts were pledged or received. Gifts of the same amount are listed alphabetically by institution. Information on gifts can be sent to gifts@philanthropy.com. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.

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A version of this article appeared in the November 24, 2017, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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