At its regular October meeting the governing body of Brown University formally accepted gifts totaling more than $121 million in support of financial aid, internships, and academic priorities. The Brown Corporation also engaged new trustees and established endowed chairs.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — At the Saturday morning business session that concluded its fall meeting, the Corporation of Brown University formally accepted gifts to the University totaling more than $121 million and established five new named professorships. The Corporation also engaged four trustees for new six-year terms.

“In committee meetings and at plenary discussion sessions during the last few days, Corporation members and senior administrators have reviewed projects and plans that are shaping the University’s future,” said Brown President Christina Paxson. “The gifts are a welcome and powerful demonstration of support both for what Brown University has become and for what it aspires to achieve.”

New gifts to the University

University policy requires that the Corporation formally accept gifts of $1 million or more. At its business meeting Saturday morning, the Corporation accepted or ratified previous acceptance by its Advisory and Executive Committee of 13 new gifts totaling more than $121 million. These include:

  • From anonymous donors, a gift of $38,736,035 in support of the University’s strategic plan, Building on Distinction: A New Plan for Brown.
  • From Brown parents Richard A. Friedman, a 1979 graduate, and Susan Pilch Friedman, a 1977 graduate, a gift of $26 million in support of the University’s strategic plan, Building on Distinction: A New Plan for Brown.
  • From anonymous donors, a gift of $20,376,856 in support of the School of Engineering’s new building and a gift of $19,164,207 to be designated at a later date.
  • From the Chen Family, a gift of $6 million, of which $4 million will support an endowed professorship in China Studies; $1.1 million will support the Chen Family Fund for Faculty and Student Engagement with China and Chinese Culture; $600,000 will support an endowment for global experiential teaching and learning; and $300,000 will support the Brown Annual Fund.
  • From an anonymous donor, a gift of $3 million, of which $1.875 million is for endowment to support undergraduate summer internships; $625,000 is for endowment to support Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards; and $500,000 is current-use funding to support the expansion of psychological services.
  • From Joseph Edelman, a gift of $1.65 million, of which $1 million is designated to support a fund for pilot research in circuit therapies and $650,000 is designated to support an upgrade of the Siemens 3T MRI scanner MAGNETOM Prisma in the Brown Institute for Brain Science.
  • From the Thomas J. and Olive C. Watson Foundation, a gift of $1,260,712 to help establish an endowed professorship in the Thomas J. Watson Jr. ’37 Institute for International Studies.
  • From the Bernard Osher Foundation, a gift of $1 million to support scholarships at Brown University for students who have experienced a cumulative gap in their education of at least five years and anticipate participation in the workforce for a significant period of time subsequent to graduation.
  • From Alan L. Stuart, a 1959 graduate and Brown parent, a gift of $1 million to increase the Stuart Family Fund and support the performing arts.
  • From Cheryl C. Effron, a 1987 graduate, and Blair Effron, a gift of $1 million, of which $800,000 will be used to create a permanent endowment to support cross-disciplinary undergraduate education in the humanities and $200,000 to provide current-use gifts for this same purpose until the endowment is fully funded.
  • From anonymous donors, a gift of $1 million to support the piloting of a new program for students to intern with U.S. public sector agencies for a semester after their first or second year at Brown.
  • From a current Hong Kong parent who wishes to remain anonymous, a gift of $1 million to support a postdoctoral fellowship at the Watson Institute for International Studies for scholars working on China.

Professorships

The Corporation also approved the establishment of five named professorships and one head coaching position:

  • the Robert Family Professorship in International Studies, with funding received from Stephen Robert, a 1962 graduate and Brown parent;
  • the Professorship in Brain Science, with funding from anonymous donors;
  • the Chen Family Professorship in China Studies, with funding from the Chen family;
  • the Charles Evans Hughes 1881 Professorship in International Affairs, with funding from the Thomas J. and Olive C. Watson Foundation;
  • a Professorship in Engineering, with funding from anonymous donors; and
  • the Head Coaching Chair for Brown Varsity Women’s Soccer, with funding from anonymous donors, who reserve the right to recommend changes to the name.

    The Corporation also approved the appointment of Takeo Watanabe as the Fred M. Seed Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences.

Trustees

The Corporation normally elects new trustees and fellows at its May meeting and formally engages them for their new terms in the fall. Four new trustees were engaged at the Saturday morning meeting:

  • George S. Barrett, a 1977 graduate and Brown parent, is chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health.
  • Genine Macks Fidler, a 1977 graduate and Brown parent, is a former attorney specializing in personal service, taxation, trusts and estates, and not-for-profits.
  • Alexandra Robert Gordon, a 1991 Brown graduate, serves as a deputy attorney general in the Government Law Section of the California Department of Justice.
  • Ralph F. Rosenberg, a 1986 graduate and Brown parent, is a capital manager and former partner at Goldman Sachs.