$75-Million Donated to College; Other Gifts

Nine institutions have received big gifts:

• Westmont College, in Santa Barbara, Calif., has received an anonymous gift of $75-million to complete construction projects on its campus. The college plans to add four major buildings: an arts center, a chapel, a residence hall, and a science building.

• The University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, has received $35-million from Ming Hsieh, founder and chief executive officer of Cogent, a fingerprint-identification technology company in South Pasadena, Calif., to support the university’s Viterbi School of Engineering. Mr. Hsieh graduated from the university in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree and received a master’s degree in 1984, both in electrical engineering.

• The Allyn Foundation, in Skaneateles, N.Y., has received a bequest of investments and real estate, worth an estimated $23-million, from the estate of William G. Allyn, a retired president of Welch Allyn, a medical-equipment company in Skaneateles. Mr. Allyn, who died in June at age 98, established the fund in the 1950s to support children and youths, family planning, health and human services, and higher education.

• The University of Dubuque, in Iowa, has received a gift of $22-million from Joseph Chlapaty, president of Advanced Drainage Systems, in Hilliard, Ohio, and his wife, Linda, for a new recreation and wellness center and to renovate its sports center. Mr. Chlapaty graduated from the university in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. The Chlapatys gave $8.5-million to the university last year for a new wing in its science center.

• The Partnership for Public Service, in Washington, has received an unrestricted pledge of $20-million from Samuel J. Heyman, chief executive officer of Heyman Properties, a commercial real-estate development company in Westport, Conn. The gift will support the Partnership’s efforts to encourage young people to work for the federal government. Mr. Heyman founded the group in 2001 with a gift of $25-million.

• Western Illinois University, in Macomb, has received a gift of $20-million from Norman C. Teeter and his wife, Carmelita, who are both retired substance-abuse counselors, to support the university’s psychology department, international programs, and a new nursing program. Mr. Teeter graduated from the university in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

• The University of Notre Dame, in Indiana, has received $12.5-million from Philip J. Purcell III, a retired chairman of Morgan Stanley, in New York, to renovate and expand its basketball and volleyball arena. Mr. Purcell graduated from the university in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

• Clark University, in Worcester, Mass., has received $10-million from William Mosakowski, chief executive officer of Public Consulting Group, in Boston, and his wife, Jane, to establish an institute for public policy. The gift will also endow a professorship, support faculty and student research, and allow the university to host symposia and seminars on economic development, education reform, and environmental sustainability. Mr. Mosakowski graduated from Clark with a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations in 1976, and Ms. Mosakowski received a bachelor’s degree in English there in 1975.

• Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H., has received $10-million from Douglas C. Floren, a co-founder and managing partner of DCF Capital, a hedge fund in Greenwich, Conn., and his family, to build an athletics facility, which will hold a classroom, equipment-storage areas, meeting rooms, locker rooms, offices, and a training center. Mr. Floren graduated from the college in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. His wife, Olivia, is a Republican state representative in Connecticut. Two of their four children, Jennifer and David, graduated from Dartmouth.

Other recent gifts:

Albany Law School, Law Clinic & Justice Center (N.Y.): $1-million from Sherry Gold to endow a program that serves poor clients with chronic illnesses and provides training on legal rights for advocates, clients, health-care professionals, law and medical students, and physicians. Ms. Gold’s husband, Barry A. Gold, a 1970 graduate of the law school and a partner at Thuillez, Ford, Gold, Johnson & Butler, in Albany, died in 2002.

Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne (Ind.): $1-million from Don Steininger, owner of Steininger Development, a real-estate developing company in Fort Wayne, and his wife, Kathy, to help build a new headquarters building. Mr. Steininger served as president of the foundation’s Board of Directors from 2003 until last year.

Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa): $5-million from James McWethy, a businessman in Burr Ridge, Ill., to endow a program to teach business, economics, and public policy. Mr. McWethy, who graduated from the college in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, business, and mathematics, dedicated his gift to his grandfather, who founded an industrial-bearings distribution company.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.): $1-million from Cynthia Gelsthorpe Fish, a community volunteer, to renovate campus space for the William Smith Centennial Center for Leadership, which will offer fellowships and scholarships, workshops, lectures, programs, and other resources. Ms. Fish graduated from William Smith College in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Holyoke Medical Center (Mass.): $1-million from the estate of George Whiting Prentiss, founder of a wire mill in Holyoke. Mr. Prentiss, who was a board member at the hospital when it was founded in 1893, died in 1915 at the age of 86. Mr. Prentiss’s will stipulated that the hospital should receive his estate if no beneficiaries remained; his niece and last living beneficiary, Phyllis Wheat Smith, died in May 2005 with no heirs.

Rhode Island College (Providence): $5.1-million bequest from Helen Ginsberg Forman, a retired special-education teacher and private investor, to endow scholarships for dance, music, and theater students and to support an endowment for a music series and the college’s library. Ms. Forman died last year at the age of 93.

U. of California at Berkeley: $5-million from Coleman Fung, founder and chief executive officer of OpenLink Financial, a business-software production company in New York, to establish a risk-management research center and to endow a professorship in risk management, the holder of which will also serve as director of the center. Mr. Fung graduated from the university in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research.

U. of Connecticut Health Center (Farmington): $2.5-million from Ray Neag, a co-founder and retired vice chairman of Arrow International, a manufacturer of disposable medical products, in Reading, Pa., and his wife, Carole, to support a new cancer treatment that reduces the amount of healthy tissue that is exposed to radiation.

U. of Oregon (Eugene): $5.2-million from an anonymous donor to create a fund to reward faculty excellence. The university also received a $4-million bequest from the estate of Haya Wallace, wife of James Wallace, a journalist who died in 2004, to endow a professorship in writing and reporting at the School of Journalism and Communication, and also to support faculty excellence. Part of the gift — art and artifacts from Ms. Wallace’s collection — will go to the university’s museum of art. Mr. Wallace graduated from the university in 1950 with a degree in journalism. Ms. Wallace died in April. Additionally, Abbott Keller, a co-founder and chief investment officer of Kestrel Investment Management Corporation, in San Mateo, Calif., and his wife, Laura, have given $1-million to support a distinguished-scholar award and two faculty fellowships in the College of Business, Department of Finance. Mr. Keller graduated from the university in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in finance, and Ms. Keller graduated in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

Virginia Commonwealth U., School of Dentistry (Richmond): $2.5-million from W. Baxter Perkinson Jr., founder of Perkinson, Baxter and Associates, a dental practice in Midlothian, Va., to support the school’s clinics, laboratories, and technology, and to recruit faculty and students. Dr. Perkinson graduated from the school of dentistry in 1970, and has served on the faculty since then.