A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University
Mike Walker gave $20 million each to the mechanical-engineering departments of his two alma maters. Both departments have been named for him.
Walker co-founded Dril-Quip, a manufacturer of offshore-drilling and production equipment. He retired from the company in 2011.
He earned a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from UT-Austin.
University of Virginia
Chris and Carrie Shumway donated $25 million through their foundation for a new building and a new bioscience business program.
The gift will be used to expand joint efforts between UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce and its School of Medicine to create academic programs that integrate business concepts into biomedical science and health-care leadership studies.
Chris Shumway founded Shumway Capital, an investment firm where he is managing partner. He serves on the McIntire School of Commerce Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Markup
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark gave $20 million through his foundation to help launch the Markup, a nonprofit-news organization that will focus on showing how powerful institutions are using technology in ways that affect people and society.
Newmark said in a news release that he is giving the money because “as a news consumer, I look for journalism that I can trust, and by producing data-driven, rigorously fact-checked reporting on the effects of technology on society, the Markup is helping to fill a largely unmet need.”
University of Oklahoma
James and Miriam Mulva donated $20 million through their Mulva Family Foundation for the university’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.
The money will be used to create the Mulva Family Foundation ROTC Scholarship Endowment and to renovate the university’s historic armory and a portion of another building. The scholarship will provide tuition and room and board for students who are enrolled in the Army, Naval/Marine, or Air Force ROTC.
Jim Mulva led Phillips Petroleum and ConocoPhillips until he retired in 2012. He attended the university in the mid-1960s and was part of the Naval ROTC. He transferred to the University of Texas, from which he graduated.
American University
Jeff and Samira Sine gave $10 million to establish the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, which will bring together scholars, other experts, and students to research and study the nation’s most pressing challenges in a way that promotes common ground and bipartisan policy solutions.
Jeff Sine, who graduated from the university, co-founded the Raine Group, a merchant banking firm. Samira Sine, a former journalist, is the New York director of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that works with parents, teachers, and policy makers to make media and technology safe for children.
Case Western Reserve University
Roe Green donated $10 million to back renovations of the university’s Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center.
Green is a Cleveland businesswoman and stage manager who has worked for the Cleveland Opera, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and other groups.
Her father, the late Ben Green, became the School of Law’s first alumnus named a federal district court judge in 1961 when he was appointed by President Kennedy.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.
