Key Takeaways
Phil and Penny Knight committed $1 billion to the University of Oregon on September 23 to create a college of engineering.
The university calls it the largest gift ever made to a comprehensive public university.
It lands about a week after the couple pledged $1.1 billion to Providence, putting their new commitments at $2.1 billion.
Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny Knight, have committed $1 billion to the University of Oregon to establish a college of engineering, the university announced September 23. The school calls it the largest gift ever made to a comprehensive public university.
The new Knight College of Engineering will sit at the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact in Eugene. It will train engineers and applied scientists in bioengineering and other high-demand fields, and aims to move lab discoveries into products, therapies and companies faster.
The third gift at this scale to the same campus
This is the Knights' third commitment of this size to the university in 10 years, after $500 million gifts in 2016 and 2021 that built and expanded the Knight Campus. Since then the campus created UO's first engineering department and grew to 17 research labs serving more than 500 students and trainees a year. Oregon expects about 2,500 engineering job openings a year, according to the university, and trains fewer people for semiconductor jobs relative to industry size than any other major semiconductor state.
"This is no time to abandon them," Phil Knight said of America's universities.
$2.1 billion in about a week
The gift comes days after the Knights pledged $1.1 billion to Providence to build Oregon's first hospital dedicated to women's health, OPB reported. Last year they pledged $2 billion to OHSU's Knight Cancer Research Institute.
That number is worth sitting with. WYDE covered Bridgespan research showing families worth more than $500 million give about 1.2% of their assets a year. The Knights are moving at a very different speed, much like the Gates Foundation committing $1 billion to widen access to AI earlier this month, with big money pledged up front to a specific build.
People Also Ask
How much did Phil Knight give to the University of Oregon?
Phil and Penny Knight committed $1 billion on September 23, 2026 to create a college of engineering at the Knight Campus. They gave $500 million in 2016 and another $500 million in 2021.
Is this the largest gift to a public university?
The University of Oregon says it is the largest gift ever made to a comprehensive public university.
What will the Knight College of Engineering teach?
It will focus on bioengineering and other high-demand disciplines, with training in communication, entrepreneurship and ethics alongside technical work.
What other gifts have the Knights made in 2026?
About a week earlier they pledged $1.1 billion to Providence to build Oregon's first women's hospital and fund cardiovascular research.