Home » State research match funding boosts UK gifts by $6.2M

State research match funding boosts UK gifts by $6.2M

Supports endowments in colleges of engineering and medicine

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees (BOT) approved $12.42 million in gift commitments eligible to receive Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF) match funding to support endowments in the College of Engineering and College of Medicine.

The 2022 Kentucky General Assembly allocated $20 million dollars in RCTF funding to support endowment growth in the fields of science, technology, engineering, math, and health sciences (STEM+H) at UK for qualifying gifts. UK will approve RCTF funding at a 2:1 ratio, matching one-half of the donor’s gift and effectively doubling support for UK’s critical research priority areas Research Priority Areas (RPA), which are cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, diversity and inclusion/UNITE, energy, neuroscience and substance use disorder.

As a result of the 2:1 match, UK will grow the $12.42 million in approved gift commitments into $18.64 million total funding for transformative research efforts in UK’s College of Engineering and College of Medicine.

On April 27, the BOT approved RCTF matching funds for gifts including:

  • $1.23 million to endow the Stanley and Karen Pigman Heritage Science Professorship in the College of Engineering.
  • $7.25 million to endow the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment for Research and Graduate Education in the UK College of Engineering.
  • $2 million to endow the Goodman Family Chair in Pediatric Forensic Medicine Research in the College of Medicine.
  • $500,000 to endow the Bill and Donna Shively Endowed Pediatric Research Professorship in the College of Medicine.
  • $145,000 to support the endowed Allan and Ginger Brown Aerospace Faculty Excellence Fund in the College of Engineering.
  • $200,000 from the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Foundation to support the endowed Sally Humphrey Professorship in Cancer Health Equity in the College of Medicine.
  • $100,000 from the Aetna Better Health of Kentucky, ASC to endow the CHET Training Program Support Endowed Fund for the UK Center for Health Equity Transformation.

The RCTF program, administered by the Council on Postsecondary Education, provides Kentucky’s universities support with the goal of stimulating business development, generating increases in externally sponsored research, creating better jobs and a higher standard of living, and facilitating the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s transition to a knowledge-based economy.

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