Kentucky $250m: Centre College in Danville, Ky., got a $250 million gift from an alumnus Tuesday—the largest gift ever given a liberal-arts college and the 18th largest gift in higher-education history.
The money will be used to provide scholarships to students majoring in natural and computational sciences and economics starting in the fall of 2014. By 2017, a total of 160 students will receive full-ride scholarships, along with other benefits, such as support for studying abroad and summer internships.
A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust made the donation. Eugene Brockman’s son, Robert Brockman, is an alumnus of the college and a former chairman of the college’s board of trustees. He is also president and CEO of The Reynolds and Reynolds Co., which merged with Universal Computer Systems in 2006.
The donation was made in the form of Universal Computer Systems stocks.
Eugene Brockman “saw firsthand the tremendous impact that Centre had on his son ... whose own drive and ambition were empowered by his experience as a Centre student,” said Evatt Tamine, trustee of the Brockman Trust.
The college ranked fifth in the nation last year for undergraduate teaching and alumni giving in the U.S. News & World Report ratings.
Top 10 Private Gifts to Higher Education
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
1. Gates Millennium Scholars program: From the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 1999, $1 billion over 20 years.
Vedanta University (India): From the Anil Agarwal Foundation, 2006, $1 billion endowment to establish the university.
2. California Institute of Technology: From Gordon and Betty Moore and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, 2001, $600 million, consisting of $300 million over five years and $300 million over 10 years.
3. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering: From the F.W. Olin Foundation, 1997, $460 million to establish the college.
4. National Taiwan University: From Terry Gou, 2007, $454.5 million, to establish a cancer-care clinic and to conduct cancer research.
5. The Broad Institute: From Eli and Edythe L. Broad, 2008, $400 million.
Columbia University: From John W. Kluge, 2007, $400 million.
Stanford University: From the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2001, $400 million.
6. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: From an anonymous donor, 2001, $360 million.
7. Cornell University: From the Atlantic Philanthropies, 2011, $350 million.
Johns Hopkins University: From Michael R. Bloomberg, 2013, $350 million.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: From Patrick J. and Lore Harp McGovern, 2000, estimated at $350 million over 20 years.
8. University of Arkansas at Fayetteville: From the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation, 2002, $300 million.
University of Chicago: From the Booth Family Trust, 2008, $300 million.
9. Emory University: From the Lettie Pate Evans, Joseph B. Whitehead, and Robert W. Woodruff Foundations, 1996, $295 million.
10. Carnegie Mellon University: From William S. Dietrich II, 2011, $265 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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