After receiving one of the largest gifts in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s history last summer, the university has become the beneficiary of a combined $13 million donation from two anonymous alumni.The bequests, coming from an alumnus, an alumna, and their respective partners, will create endowed scholarship funds to support students in perpetuity, Colleen Wamback, WPI director of public relations, wrote in an email to WBJ.Grace Wang, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute PHOTO I COURTESY OF WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE“These extraordinary commitments reflect the enduring bond our alumni feel with WPI and their belief in the power of a WPI education to transform lives,” WPI President Grace Wang said in a Tuesday press release. “By investing in scholarships, they are creating a legacy that provides for the future, opening doors for talented students and ensuring that a WPI education remains accessible for generations to come.” One of the anonymous couples told WPI they see their gift as a way to pay it forward after WPI provided opportunities that altered the course of their lives. The other couple said they hope to ensure future students have the access and support they need and will eventually give back by providing future students with opportunities.The university’s latest donation comes about six months after it received $12 million from the estate of 1960 alumnus Carl Karlsson. That gift went towards WPI’s Beyond These Towers fundraising campaign, supporting eponymous endowed professorships for three early-career STEM faculty members.With 6,375 full-time enrolled students in fall 2024, WPI is the largest higher education institution in Central Massachusetts when ranked by data collected by WBJ’s Research Department. At the time, the university employed 446 full-time faculty, 189 part-time faculty, and had 1,383 total employees.Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.
