Bill Gates may not have graduated from college, but Halsey M. Minor did.
Minor's massive donation of $25 million to the College aims to secure the University's status as a world leader in the digital age, Minor said.
Minor officially announced the gift yesterday afternoon at a Faculty Senate meeting in the Dome Room of the Rotunda.
Minor is a 1987 College graduate and founder and chairman of CNET Networks. His family has a long history of supporting the University.
The gift is the largest single donation ever received by the College and one of the largest gifts ever received by the entire University.
"This gift is an uncommon gift from an uncommon person," College Dean Melvyn P. Leffler said. "Halsey is challenging us to truly presume a position of eminence."
The extraordinary donation will go toward creating a Digital Academical Village, which will provide computer scientists and humanists with a way to work with one another on programs that utilize cutting-edge technology.
University President John T. Casteen III said the timing of such an endeavor is important.
"The goal is to make the University first in its development and adaptiveness of digital technologies for both emerging and traditional disciplines," Casteen said.
The Digital Academical Village is modeled after Thomas Jefferson's original Academical Village, which will provide a place for students and faculty to work together with expanding technology.
Minor said he considered Jefferson's vision for the University when he planned the donation. He said he thinks the new digitalized village would hold true to Jefferson's desire "to make the University one of the most progressive and modern in the world."
Minor's vision is "both massive and valid," Casteen said.
Leffler said this collaborative, cross-disciplinary initiative will allow humanities departments to adapt to a technological world.
"This allows us to re-establish a humanities education in a technological age," Leffler said.
The benefits of such a huge expansion of resources will reach far beyond the University, Minor said.
He emphasized the Commonwealth's rapidly growing prominence in technology, and said the presence of a technologically-strong university will fuel additional business in the area.
"A large university here that is considered a global leader will be of huge benefit to the state," Minor said.
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