$10 million gift to fund volcano research at University of Oregon

$10 million gift to fund volcano research at University of Oregon: A pair of the University of Oregon’s most generous benefactors, Gwen and Chuck Lillis, formally announced Tuesday another $10 million contribution — this time for the study of volcanoes. The Lillises, who live in Colorado, gave the money so that the UO can hire two new faculty members, set them up in labs and pay their salaries and benefits in perpetuity through an endowment. It’s through such perpetual gifts that the university can weather the vagaries of state funding and move from being a merely good state university to an excellent university, Chuck Lillis said.