Liberal Arts College, Medical School Receive Big Gifts

Centre College, a liberal arts institution in Kentucky, and the Medical College of Wisconsin both announced major gifts last week.

An anonymous donor contributed $225 million to anchor the public launch of a $405 million fundraising campaign at Centre, the college announced Friday. The gift will create an endowed scholarship fund, called the Centre Forever Fund, which will provide both merit and need-based aid.

“My wife and I believe in Centre College and its mission of providing an extraordinary liberal arts education to exceptional and deserving young men and women,” the unnamed donor said in a press release. “We believe in where this College is headed, and we hope this gift encourages others to join us in making a Centre education possible for every student who has earned it.”

The Medical College of Wisconsin received $50 million from John Mellowes, former CEO of Charter Manufacturing, a Wisconsin manufacturing company, and his wife, Linda, to support the college’s work in precision medicine, a growing field focused on tailoring disease prevention and treatment to a patient’s individual lifestyle, environment and genetics. According to the press release, the college has been at the forefront of the field for nearly two decades. The Melloweses previously donated $10 million for MCW’s research into genomics in 2022.

The college will change the name of its Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine to the Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Institute for Genomic Medicine and Precision Therapeutics, and will also add the Melloweses’ names to the college’s collaborative health center.

“We are profoundly grateful to Linda, John and the entire Mellowes family for their visionary leadership and continued generosity,” said MCW President Shekar N. Kurpad. “Their transformational gift will reshape how we understand, prevent, diagnose and treat diseases for generations to come, and will expand access to personalized medicine and improve the standard of care for more people in our communities.”