U. of Rhode Island and Hampden-Sydney College Each Get $30 Million (Gifts Roundup)

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

University of Rhode Island

Thomas and Cathy Ryan have given $35 million to expand research and teaching capacity in neuroscience and to create a scholars program to attract high-performing students.

Of the total, $24 million will go to the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, $10 million to establish the Thomas M. Ryan Scholars program, and $1 million for men’s and women’s basketball. Thomas Ryan is former president and CEO of CVS.

Hampden-Sydney College

Stanley Pauley gave $30 million through his Pauley Family Foundation to back construction of a new science facility, which will be named the Pauley Science Center.

Pauley is chairman and chief executive of Carpenter Company, a polyurethane manufacturer that was founded by E. Rhodes Carpenter, who graduated from Hampden-Sydney in 1929.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Walter and Ben Hussman donated $25 million to endow the journalism school and rename it the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

Walter Hussman is chairman of WEHCO Media, which was owns newspapers, magazines, and cable-television stations in six states and grew out of a newspaper company started by his grandfather in the early 1900s.

He worked at his family’s newspapers as a child and during summers throughout high school. He graduated from university in 1968 with a journalism degree and worked as a reporter at Forbes magazine before becoming publisher of his family’s Arkansas Democrat. He became president of WEHCO Media in 1981.

Hussman said in a news release that he and his wife, Ben, believe the main priority for the news industry right now should be re-establishing trust between the public and journalists at a time when public polls show trust in journalism slipping, and they believe their gift will help in that effort.

University of California at Berkeley and University of California at San Francisco

Charles Schwab gave $20 million to launch the UCSF-UC Berkeley Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center, a multidisciplinary clinical and research program aimed at deepening the understanding of dyslexia and other neurodevelopmental differences that affect learning.

Schwab founded the eponymous financial giant, the Charles Schwab Corporation. He struggled with reading and classroom learning from an early age, and was formally diagnosed with dyslexia at age 40. Since then, he has been an advocate for those with reading and learning difficulties, and has been influential in establishing the idea that dyslexia can confer unique strengths.

Inova Behavioral Health

Russell Hitt and his family donated $16 million to support Act on Addiction, a drug-addiction treatment-and-recovery program that is aimed at destigmatizing addiction and making recovery more accessible through personalized treatment plans.

Hitt is chairman emeritus of Hitt Contracting, which was started by his parents, Myrtle and Warren Hitt, in 1937.

One of his sons, real-estate developer Todd Hitt, was sentenced in June to 6 and a half years in prison for defrauding clients. Before his son was sentenced, his father requested that Todd Hitt receive substance-abuse treatment.

Hitt family.

Illinois State University

Wonsook Kim and her husband, Thomas Clement, gave $12 million for the College of Fine Arts and the School of Art, which will be named for Kim. The money will help pay for new technology, scholarships, visiting artists and professors, and a variety of other programs.

Kim is a visual artist who was named Artist of the Year by the United Nations in 1995. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the university in 1975 and an MFA there in 1978. Clement is a medical-device inventor who founded Mectra Labs, a biotechnology company that develops medical devices. It was acquired by Key Surgical in May. Clement, who was born in Korea during the Korean War, is the author of two books about his experiences: The Unforgotten War and Dust of the Streets: The Journey of a Biracial Orphan of the Korean War.

University of Southern California

Patrick and Bonnie Fuscoe donated $10 million to the Viterbi School of Engineering, $1 million to the Kaufman School of Dance, and $1 million to the School of Cinematic Arts.

The three gifts will support the general funds of the three schools, which are used to pay for educational programs, laboratory spaces, facilities, and interdisciplinary activities for students and faculty.

Patrick Fuscoe founded Fuscoe Engineering. The couple met in 1972 as undergraduate students at USC, where Bonnie Fuscoe studied art and Patrick Fuscoe studied civil engineering. Their daughter, Sally, and son, Patrick Jr., also earned USC degrees.

University of Connecticut

John and Donna Krenicki gave $5 million to the School of Fine Arts and the School of Engineering to create the Krenicki Arts and Engineering Institute. The couple stipulated the university must raise an additional $5 million in matching gifts from corporations.

The Krenickis graduated from the university in 1984. He studied engineering and she graphic design. John Krenicki is a senior operating partner with the private-equity investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. He previously spent 29 years at General Electric as a vice chairman and president and CEO of GE Energy. Donna Krenicki is an artist.

Wikimedia Foundation

Craig Newmark gave $2.5 million through his Craig Newmark Philanthropies to help the organization protect its sites from cyber threats and protect the privacy of its users and volunteers.

Newmark founded the online advertising site Craigslist and has given extensively to nonprofits that seek to shore up journalism. He has also donated to charities that help veterans and their families, efforts to increase the number of women in technology fields, and voter-protection programs. He appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors earlier this year.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.