Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife have pledged a historic $1 billion to a public university, marking the largest single donation ever recorded for such an institution. The funds will create a new engineering school focused on high-demand fields like bioengineering, aiming to bridge research and real-world applications. The university highlights plans to attract top faculty and accelerate innovation, turning lab discoveries into practical solutions. This unprecedented gift could reshape engineering education and commercialization efforts at the institution.
Phil Knight and wife, Penny, make largest known donation to a public university to fund a new engineering schoolNike cofounder Phil Knight, and his wife, Penny, have donated $1bn to the University of Oregon in what the university described as the “largest gift ever made to a comprehensive public university”.The donation is intended to be used to establish a new engineering school in Eugene. In a news release, seen by the Guardian, the university said the new school “will educate engineers and applied scientists in bioengineering and other high-demand disciplines, attract faculty and researchers to a growing campus, and accelerate the university’s ability to move discoveries out of the laboratory and into products, therapies, technologies and companies”. Continue reading...
