ExxonMobil has given $987,542 to The University of Texas at Austin as a 3-to-1 match of gifts made by the company’s employees and retirees in the past year.
A majority of the donation benefits programs in business, engineering and geosciences, reflecting the primary academic background of ExxonMobil’s personnel, but funds also were directed to other areas throughout the campus.
“This support is both generous and meaningful,” said Mark Blount, the university’s director of corporate relations. “It’s an investment in the future from one of the world’s top companies. It also underscores the great generosity shown by the UT alumni among ExxonMobil’s employees and retirees.”
The donation was presented at a reception that capped a day of open-house events for ExxonMobil personnel and their families.
With cumulative giving to The University of Texas at Austin of nearly $40 million, ExxonMobil is the university’s most generous corporate partner. The company has also made $12.8 million in research grants to the institution. Rex W. Tillerson, ExxonMobil’s chairman and chief executive officer, is a 1975 University of Texas at Austin graduate with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
Headquartered in Irving, ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company. In 2008, with its employees and retirees, the company, its divisions and affiliates, and the ExxonMobil Foundation provided $225 million in contributions worldwide, of which more than $89 million was dedicated to education. Since its inception in 1962, the matching program alone has provided $398 million to higher education institutions in the United States.
