Nobel Nobility

Nobel winner gives winnings to 4 schools :

UNC's Nobel Prize-winning professor has decided to give part of his award back to the institutions where he worked and studied.

Oliver Smithies, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at UNC, and his colleagues, Mario Capecchi of the University of Utah and Sir Martin Evans of Cardiff University, were awarded a prize of about $1.6 million. The award was given in Swedish krona.

The three scientists were recognized in the field of medicine for their work with genetic targeting that began in the early 1980s.

Their research focused on genetic targeting, in which mice genes are modified to determine the effect this alteration will have.

Smithies has since split his part of the award, about $530,000, among the four universities where he has worked or studied. Each will receive about $130,000.

The universities that received money were Oxford University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Toronto and UNC.

'All four places had something to do with it,' Smithies said. 'Each in different ways have been part of my going to Stockholm, and this is a nice way to recognize them.'

Smithies received his master's and Ph.D. from Oxford, then did some postdoctoral work at Wisconsin.
He began his research for the work he received his Nobel Prize for at the University of Toronto, then returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 25 years and finally settled at UNC for the past 20 years.

The Nobel Prize money is given with no specific stipulations, and each university that Smithies is giving to, he said, will ultimately decide how the money will be used.

"It's for the benefit of the universities, not for my benefit or anyone else's," Smithies said.

$50-Million Donor to U. of Michigan Will Review Performance as Part of Gift

The Chronicle: Daily News Blog:: Erin Strout

The University of Michigan announced today that it had received an anonymous $50-million gift that comes with some hefty strings attached to it. The pledge is for the new Cardiovascular Center, which opened on June 11.

The donor plans to give $25-million over the next 10 years, beginning this month, and the university will receive the remaining $25-million upon meeting goals agreed upon by the donor and the center’s leaders, according to a university news release.

The institution and the donor have created benchmarks that will allow the benefactor to review the center’s performance before releasing the final $25-million. Some categories that will be measured for results include performance on clinical measures, to ensure that the university is providing effective care, and scores on patient-satisfaction surveys.

Other areas that will be monitored by the donor include the amount of research grants won, the number of research publications and patents, and the quality of teaching. The donor has also asked that the center be led by a team, not an individual, so that specialists are encouraged to work together.

An interesting approach to philanthropy. I wonder whether it will catch on. Especially for my donations in the low to mid three figures to Harvard and Yale.

Million-dollar questions

From Haaretz: "By Ruth Sinai

'Do you think that wealthy Israelis contribute enough to philanthropic causes?' This was the opening question in a provocative and unusual discussion that took place in Jerusalem about 10 days ago between Jewish millionaires from abroad and their Israeli counterparts. The man who posed the question, panel moderator Shale Stiller, president of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation - the largest philanthropic foundation in the Jewish world - intended to get some answers. To his right on the podium sat Israeli industrialist Dov Lautman and American philanthropist Edith Everett; to his left, high-tech entrepreneur Nir Barkat and British businessman Jacob Schimmel, chairman of IDB Holding Corporation and one of the heads of Matan, a nonprofit organization that promotes investment by the business sector in Israeli communal efforts....

Edith Everett, who donates millions of shekels annually to education and welfare institutions - including in Hatzor Haglilit and the Druze sector - angrily disagreed with both men. The government should be more involved, especially when it comes to basic services, she said, adding that it is infuriating that only half of children in educational institutions with a long school day receive lunch there. Everett told of how for three years running, the principal of a school in Hatzor Haglilit has asked her to help pay teachers' salaries. "I'm not willing to pay salaries anymore. It's the state's job to pay the teachers," she declared, adding that money should be donated by other sources - in addition to the government's allocations, not instead of them.

Marquette Law School Receives $51 Million Gift

An alumni couple will donate $51 million to Marquette University toward construction of a new Law School facility, Marquette President Robert A. Wild, S.J., announced today. The donation is the largest gift ever made by individuals to a Wisconsin college or university, and is one of the largest ever to a law school in the United States.

Raymond A. and Kathryn A. Eckstein of Cassville, Wis., and Boca Raton, Fla., made the gift as an 'expression of gratitude' to the university. ...
'My wife and I have many fond memories at Marquette. It was the place of our meeting and courtship, and the beginning of our wonderful life together. Catholic, Jesuit education has played an important role in our lives. We are honored and thrilled to be able to provide the Law School with the foundation for a new building, so that students in the future can have the opportunity to benefit from the education we did..."

Mazel tov to Marquette!