The Knight family is donating $500 million to the UO to ‘accelerate scientific impact’
It’s the largest public gift for a public institution
This morning the university president Michael Schill revealed that Nike co- founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny, are donating a generous $500 million for the newest “Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.”
According to the university website:
“The Knight Campus will reshape the higher education landscape in Oregon by training the next generations of scientists, forging tighter ties with industry and entrepreneurs and creating new educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.”
“This new campus will allow our university to reach a level of excellence and national prominence that it has never before,” said President Schill in this morning’s press conference.
According to Oregon’s promotional video for the campus, students will have endless opportunities for work that has not been possible before. This is the largest gift in history that has ever been donated to a public university.
The project is projected to continue over the next decade, and a total of $1 billion will be put forth, in large part by donors.
When completely finished, the Knight Campus will be made up of three buildings about 70,000 square feet each. It will be located on the north side of Franklin Boulevard, right across from the Lorrey Lokey Science Complex. A sky bridge will be connecting the campus back to the science complex.
In today’s AroundtheO email, it is explained that “The campus will consist of cutting-edge labs, research facilities, prototyping tools, imaging facilities, human-subject interaction spaces and an innovation hub.”
The Governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, made an appearance at this morning’s press conference and expressed her excitement:
“This investment will help make sure that Oregon moves full steam ahead into the innovation economy of tomorrow.”
This is not the first time the Knights have shown their generosity to Oregon’s campus, as they were also at the forefront of the funding for the university’s main library and the state’s only public law school.
All we can say is “Thank you Uncle Phil!”