Giving news

University of Illinois alumnus Larry Gies has made a $100 million gift to the Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA). The commitment is the largest gift in DIA history and represents one of the largest single gifts ever received by a college athletics program.

By all accounts, Leah Jane Wightman was a loyal friend and daughter, a dedicated professional, and a very private person. When she passed away on November 18, 2024, at the age of 84, she demonstrated her deep connection to her upbringing on an Illinois farm. She left an estate valued at $10 million to name and sustain the three historic round barns at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

In Spring 2025, ACES 298 “Bridging Sustainable and Professional Development Goals in Panamá” launched. Through the collaboration and dedication of staff across campus, 20 first-generation Illinois students had the experience of a lifetime.

Anne Kozak, who served three decades as executive director of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs, Illinois, established a fund at the University of Illinois Library to help future librarians.

John and Bonnie Dauer, who count their college experience as pivotal to their lives, committed $2 million to the vision of reimagining the University Library for the 21st century.

In recognition of the most recent transformative gift from Phillip (LAS ’69) and Ann Sharp, the directorship of the Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) will be officially renamed as the Phillip and Ann Sharp Director. The inaugural directorship will be held by Rohit Bhargava, the institute’s founding director.

The world lost a humble giant on July 30, 2023. Steve Gerdes (ACE, ’77) was a man of boundless dreams and even greater determination. His deep love for farming, family, community, and life itself was evident in everything he did and continues to inspire through the legacy he leaves behind.

One of CI MED’s faithful donors, Dave Downey, has committed to a generous $2 million gift to the college. Half of the gift will fund a professorship in clinical translational research or innovation; the other half will support a student scholarship with preference for a student from Illinois. Downey’s gift honors former Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who played a crucial role in founding CI MED, the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine.

The family of Phil B. Jones, a respected Washington County farmer and community leader, is pleased to announce the creation of the Phil B. Jones Family Scholarship to support local high school students pursuing degrees in agriculture, communications, and related fields at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.