UA’s Hamilton Lauds BP and ConocoPhillips Donations

Submitted by Kate Ripley
Phone: (907) 450-8102
12/05/05

UA President Mark Hamilton announced today that the university had received a $2.28 million check from BP, bringing that company’s total donations to UA under its charter agreement with the state to $11 million.

A second donation is expected shortly from ConocoPhillips of $2.5 million, bringing that company’s charter-agreement gift total to $11.8 million.

In the last six years, since the charter has been in place, the two companies have given a combined $22.8 million.

"It’s significant, and it’s helping us do some things we simply wouldn’t be able to do otherwise," Hamilton said.

The donations go to the UA Foundation, the private, non-profit, fund-raising entity that solicits, manages and invests private donations on behalf of the university.

The donations stem from a charter agreement between the oil companies and the state regarding the BP merger with ARCO in the late 1990s. ARCO’s Alaska holdings were sold to Phillips, and Phillips then merged with Conoco. Part of the charter agreement identified public higher education as a top priority, with the companies subsequently providing annual donations to the UA Foundation.

The charter ensures long-term benefit to Alaska by providing funds for education and training of University of Alaska students while building on UA’s internationally recognized expertise in Arctic engineering and research. In addition, it allows the university to engage in research and policy analysis to help the state build and sustain a vibrant, diversified economy.

The ConocoPhillips and BP donations support a number of senior faculty positions in different disciplines, including Alaska Native languages, behavioral health science and educational technology. In addition, the fund supports Creating Alaska, a statewide oral history and commemoration project to mark the golden anniversaries of the state constitution and statehood.

For more information, call Kate Ripley, 907/450-8102 or email kate.ripley@alaska.edu