A roundup of notable gifts compiled by The Chronicle:
Georgetown University
Peter Cooper, founder of Cooper and Company, a real-estate and private-equity investment firm, and his wife, Susan, gave $50 million to establish an academically based program that develops leadership skills for students involved in the university’s Division I sports. The program will be named for the donors.
A portion of the gift will also help complete work on a sports field.
All of the Coopers’ five children are Georgetown alumni.
Duke University
The financier David Rubenstein gave $25 million to support a new arts center and help create performing- and visual-arts programs and activities at Duke.
Mr. Rubenstein co-founded the private-equity firm the Carlyle Group and is chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees. He graduated from Duke in 1970.
University of Missouri
Rich and Nancy Kinder gave $25 million through their foundation to endow the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and to support postdoctoral fellowships, research, and travel programs. Mr. Kinder co-founded Kinder Morgan, an energy company, and earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the university in 1966 and 1968.
YC Research
Sam Altman, the president of Y Combinator, a Bay-area business accelerator, pledged $10 million to establish YC Research, a nonprofit research lab devoted to creating new technologies that the organization will make freely available.
Mr. Altman is a programmer and venture capitalist who co-founded Loopt, a social-networking mobile application. He became president of Y Combinator in 2014.
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
Robert Schattner gave $10 million to renovate the dental school’s main clinic and expand its meeting and reception spaces.
Dr. Schattner is a dentist who invented Chloraseptic, the sore-throat anesthetic, and the hospital disinfectant Sporicidin. He graduated from the dental school in 1948 and serves on its Board of Overseers.
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Robert and Dorothy King gave $10 million to support the School of Education and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. The money will be used to hire more faculty and to support mental-health research.
Ms. King graduated from the university in 1958. Mr. King founded the investment firm Peninsula Capital. The Kings are longtime donors to the university.
College of William & Mary
Joe and Sharon Muscarelle, retired real-estate developers, pledged $2.5 million to expand the Muscarelle Museum of Art, which was previously named for Mr. Muscarelle’s father, Joseph, a 1927 alumnus, and mother, Margaret.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.
