AUSTIN, Texas — The ExxonMobil Foundation has donated nearly $1.5 million to The University of Texas at Austin to help boost business, engineering and geosciences programs and support the foundation’s mission to encourage women and minorities to pursue careers as scientists and engineers.
The $1.465 million contribution is the largest ever given to UT Austin as part of the ExxonMobil Foundation’s Educational Matching Gift Program. The foundation contributes $3 for every dollar donated to UT Austin by ExxonMobil employees, retirees, surviving spouses and directors, which amounted to more than $630,000 in 2014.
“ExxonMobil employees care about education and make it an investment priority year after year,” said Suzanne McCarron, president of the ExxonMobil Foundation. “We are proud that we have such a long and solid record in supporting The University of Texas. Commitment to excellent education and ensuring the next generation is prepared to excel in the future is important to both ExxonMobil and The University of Texas.”
The gift brings the ExxonMobil Corporation and the ExxonMobil Foundation’s total giving to UT Austin to more than $60 million since 1975.
“Year after year, ExxonMobil employees and the foundation set new records in their generosity for UT,” said university President Bill Powers. Their support continues to help the campus and our students as we aspire to become the best public research university in the nation.”
In addition to matching gifts, ExxonMobil has demonstrated its commitment to improving U.S. math and science education by contributing to the UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering’s Women in Engineering Program and the Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program, as well the UTeach teacher preparation program.
The company is also a founding donor to GeoFORCE Texas, an outreach program in the Jackson School of Geosciences that aims to increase underrepresented populations in the scientific workforce and that was recently honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. This year, the company’s support has allowed GeoFORCE to launch a pilot program called STEMFORCE to replicate the success in mentoring in underserved high schools in Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin.
The ExxonMobil Foundation is the primary philanthropic arm of Exxon Mobil Corporation in the United States. The foundation and the corporation engage in a range of philanthropic activities that advance math and science education, promote women as catalysts for economic development and combat malaria. In 2014, the company, its employees and the ExxonMobil Foundation provided $279 million in contributions worldwide, of which $95 million was dedicated to education.
