FILE - Phil Knight, right, Nike co-founder, and his wife, Penny Knight, center, take in the Oregon versus DePaul NCAA college basketball game during the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland, Ore., Nov. 24, 2017.
Timothy J. Gonzelez / AP
Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny Knight, have committed $1 billion to the University of Oregon to establish a new engineering college.
The university announced the gift in a press release early Wednesday morning. The university intends to house the Knight College of Engineering at UO’s Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact in Eugene.
Major gifts from the Knights helped establish that campus 10 years ago.
UO spokesperson Molly Blancett said in Wednesday’s press release that the newest gift is the third commitment the Knights have made in that time, totaling $2 billion in gifts toward the Knight Campus.
The newest contribution comes during a tough time in higher education.
UO faces a $65 million budget shortfall, and classified employees at Oregon’s seven public universities have voted to authorize a strike, which could begin as early as Sept. 28.
Robert Guldberg, the vice president of UO and the executive director of the Knight Campus, said the new gift — and added programs — will more than double the number of faculty and students at the campus.
Since 2016, the Knight Campus has established UO’s first engineering department, graduated the first engineers in the university’s history and grown to 17 research laboratories engaging more than 500 students and trainees each year.
The University of Oregon's Knight Campus and its connecting sky bridge over Franklin Boulevard in Eugene, Ore.
Bruce Damonte / UO
The new college is expected to educate more engineers and applied scientists in bioengineering and other high-demand disciplines. Because the money is a targeted gift, it will go specifically to the engineering college. However, Guldberg said this “generational opportunity” will benefit the university broadly.
“It’s an exceptionally challenging time for universities nationwide, including University of Oregon, due to a lot of factors,” he said, speaking to declining enrollments and budget deficits. But he said it will help long term to bring in more students and, therefore, more tuition revenue.
“The idea is really to diversify the educational offerings we have and be able to attract more students while, you know, contributing to the nationwide shortage in problem solvers and engineers,” Guldberg said.
According to the university, employers across a range of industries — from biotechnology and life sciences to manufacturing and artificial intelligence — consistently name engineering talent as one of their most critical needs.
A 2026 report from the National Science Foundation and the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows employment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is expected to grow at three times the rate of other occupations, with the fastest growth in science and engineering fields.
Oregon specifically expects about 2,500 engineering job openings a year, according to UO officials, but employers say those are among the hardest to fill.
“To attract companies and taxes to the state, we’ve got to be generating the workforce those companies need,” Guldberg said.
Guldberg said the new Knight campus gift is projected to nearly double the university’s economic impact for the state of Oregon. It’s estimated to support 867 jobs per year on average over the next 15 years. It’ll pay about $1.2 billion in cumulative labor income to Oregon workers, and return about $119 million in state and local taxes, according to UO.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said the $1 billion gift “stands out for its extraordinary generosity and monumental impact at a public university.”
“As a proud University of Oregon alumnus, I know my alma mater will put this massive investment to great use by educating students who will meet the ongoing need for engineers so essential to the economy in our state and nationwide.”
The news at UO comes just after the Knights announced a $1.1 billion gift to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and Providence Heart Institute last week. That gift is pledged over a 10-year period, with the first distribution of funds this year.
These recent, massive gifts further cement the Knights as Oregon’s leading philanthropists.
Last year, the couple pledged $2 billion to Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Research Institute. They’ve also made major gifts to the 1803 Fund, an initiative investing in Oregon’s Black communities and neighborhoods in Portland’s urban core.
Guldberg said the university is hoping to build the new engineering facility in the next couple years. The money also includes scholarships for students who need them.
“We want to attract, you know, good students to this program,” he said. “And good students come from all walks of life, so we want to make sure that they can afford that.”
