Nike Founder Phil Knight Pours Billion into University of Oregon for New Engineering College

Nike Founder Phil Knight Pours $1 Billion into University of Oregon for New Engineering College

Phil Knight and wife pledge $1B to Oregon for new engineering school, largest gift ever to a public university.

September 24, 2026 One Min Read

POLICY WIRE — Eugene, Oregon — Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, and his wife Penny have committed $1 billion to the University of Oregon, marking the largest single donation in the institution’s history.

The contribution will establish the Knight College of Engineering at the Eugene campus, creating a new academic program that has never existed at the university before. This follows a previous $500 million grant from the couple in 2016, which helped launch the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.

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University President Karl Scholz praised the Knights for their visionary support, calling the latest gift “genuinely hard to take in.” The donation will fund faculty, programs, and research, with plans to expand beyond bioengineering into other engineering disciplines. The couple also recently pledged $1.1 billion to a women’s health hospital in Oregon.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)

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