Gifts Roundup: A $26-Million Bequest to Hendrix College

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by The Chronicle:

Hendrix College

Mary Ann Dawkins, an oil heiress, left $26 million to the Conway, Ark., college for scholarships and a new building. Ms. Dawkins died in 2014.

Her parents founded the Coulson Oil Company, and she worked there for more than 40 years as a corporate secretary. She also served on the company’s Board of Directors.

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Harold and Patricia Mathena have pledged $7 million to the seminary for a new student center. Mr. Mathena founded a company, named after him, that provides services to the oil industry.

University of California at San Diego Foundation

Richard Hertzberg, who leads the energy company Enpex Corporation, and his wife, Carol Dean Hertzberg, pledged $5 million to establish the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Researchers at the center will work on developing science-based strategies for adapting to climate change. Mr. Hertzberg is a former trustee of the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Trustees.

Lindsay Wildlife Center

Stephen S. Ball has bequeathed $2.6 million to the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. Some of the money will go toward endowment and some will be used to upgrade the organization’s facilities, including the hospital’s treatment rooms and animal housing.

Mr. Ball worked for his family’s company, Gordon N. Ball, Inc. He died last spring.

St. Norbert College

Michael Van Asten gave more than $1.7 million for the college’s Gehl-Mulva Science Center and to support scholarships. Mr. Van Asten is a Wisconsin businessman and a managing partner in Hilton Hotels.

He serves as vice chairman of St. Norbert’s Board of Trustees, and he earned a business degree there in 1975.

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