PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 21, No. 19, May 2, 2002

Gifts totaling several million dollars to benefit UI
Gifts totaling several millions of dollars earmarked for UI programs at Chicago and Urbana-Champaign were announced April 19 at the spring meeting of the UI Foundation’s Presidents Council in Chicago’s Four Seasons Hotel.

The gift announcements were part of the 26th spring meeting of the Presidents Council. The council is the university’s highest donor recognition program that is administered by the UI Foundation, the university’s private gift fund-raising arm.

Eight individuals, corporations, and charitable foundations were recognized by President James J. Stukel for their contributions. Two of the gifts announced will benefit the Urbana campus:

• A gift of $1.25 million from Renessen, a joint venture of Monsanto and Cargill with headquarters in Chicago, will create the Renessen Endowed Chair in Corn Quality Trait Breeding and Genetics in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The Renessen Chair, the first in the department of crop sciences, recognizes the significant, longtime contributions Illinois has made to corn breeding and genetics and encourages faculty members to continue their cutting-edge research and service.
  
• A $1 million gift from Kraft Foods will benefit the Division of Nutritional Sciences, an interdisciplinary program based in the College of ACES. The gift creates and endows the Kraft Foods Human Nutrition Professorship, two Kraft Foods Human Nutrition Fellowships, the Kraft Foods Human Nutrition Scholarship, and the Kraft Foods Nutritional Sciences Endowment Fund. Kraft Foods, the largest U.S.-based food company, has headquarters in Illinois.