Gifts Roundup: Entrepreneur Gives $50 Million to Rochester Institute of Technology

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by The Chronicle:

Rochester Institute of Technology

Austin McChord gave $50 million for entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, and artificial-intelligence programs.

Mr. McChord, a 2009 alumnus, founded Datto, a global data-protection company in 2007 in the basement of his father’s office building. He currently serves on the university’s Board of Trustees and is involved with a summer mentoring program at the university.

Of the total, $30 million will go toward creating the Maker Library & Innovative Learning Complex of the Future, paying for new equipment, and endowing faculty positions, student scholarships, and fellowships to help students develop their ideas into new businesses.

The remaining $20 million will be used to expand the university’s cybersecurity and artificial intelligence facilities and to establish new endowments for faculty and graduate students, primarily in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences.

World Wildlife Fund and Duke University

Jeff and Laurie Ubben donated $25 million to the two organizations. Most of the gift, $20 million, will back World Wildlife Fund’s wildlife-conservation programs, and the remaining $5 million will go toward environmental research and education at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

Mr. Ubben founded the hedge fund, ValueAct Capital. The Ubbens both graduated from Duke, and Mr. Ubben serves on the university’s Board of Trustees.

The money also will be used for a partnership between the conservation nonprofit and the Nicholas School to identify creative solutions for conservation and sustainable development and make new tools and approaches accessible to conservationists and environmental managers worldwide.

Carnegie Mellon University

Glen de Vries gave $10 million to endow the position of the dean of the Mellon College of Science.

Mr. De Vries helped create a popular cloud platform for life-sciences research and is co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a life-sciences technology company focused on how clinical research is designed, conducted, and analyzed.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology and genetics from Carnegie Mellon in 1994.

University of Colorado at Denver

Rob and Lola Salazar donated $10 million through their Salazar Family Foundation to endow and help pay construction costs of the Lola & Rob Salazar Student Wellness Center. The center is scheduled to open next year.

Mr. Salazar is co-founder of Solomon Health Group, which operates nursing homes and medical centers. He later founded Salazar Capital Management, an investment firm.

Ms. Salazar earned a master’s degree at the university, and the couple’s two children also attended the institution.

Columbus Symphony

Anne Melvin left an estimated $8 million to endow programming and operations.

A longtime Columbus Symphony donor and board member, Ms. Melvin supported and volunteered for a number of Columbus arts groups and other nonprofits.

Ms. Melvin, who died last year, was the widow of Noel Melvin, a litigation attorney in the Columbus area.

National Dance Institute

A $1 million gift from the Josh and Judy Weston Family Foundation will underwrite the National Dance Institute Celebration Team in the coming years, enabling children to perform at venues across New York City.

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