Anonymous Couple's $5 Million Gift to Endow Business Faculty Posts, Scholarships at University of Richmond

January 8, 2002

A University of Richmond trustee and his wife have pledged $5 million to endow faculty positions at the Robins School of Business and a scholarship for international students.

Approximately $4 million of the gift will be used to create a distinguished professorship in finance and $500,000 will establish a finance faculty fellowship. The remaining $500,000 will endow a scholarship for international students in any major.

The gift, among the largest ever received by the university, "will enable our finance department to attract and retain faculty talent of the highest order," said university president William E. Cooper. Karen L. Newman, dean of the Robins School, called it "a fabulous investment in the intellectual capital of the university."

The trustee and his wife requested anonymity to focus attention on what the donation will do to advance the university, rather than draw attention to themselves, according to Molly Dean Bittner, Richmond's associate director of development. She said they were directly involved in determining how the money would be allocated.

"The donors specifically asked how they could make the biggest difference with their gift," Bittner said. "They saw the importance of investing in people to help the university achieve its highest level of academic achievement. That falls right in line with the goals of our strategic plan."