Nike Co-Founder Gives $400M To Stanford For New Scholarship Program

STANFORD (CBS SF) – Nike co-founder and Stanford alumnus Phil Knight is donating $400 million to help launch a massive new graduate scholarship program, the university announced Tuesday.

Knight's donation, the largest individual cash gift in Stanford's history, is being combined with donations from other benefactors to create the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program. With a $750 million endowment, the program is being billed by the university as the world's largest fully-endowed scholarship.

The scholarship is named after Knight and university president John Hennessy, who will chair the program once he steps down later this year.

According to the university, the program will admit 100 high-achieving students each year with "demonstrated leadership and civic commitment" to pursue master's or doctorate-level degrees, along with professional degrees such as law or medicine.

"We will bring together outstanding, courageous scholars to benefit from Stanford's innovative educational environment, who then go on to lead governments, businesses, nonprofits and other complex organizations and develop creative solutions to effect positive change," Hennessy said in a university statement.

Stanford plans to admit the first class of Knight-Hennessy scholars in 2018, with applications being accepted next year.

While Knight graduated from the Stanford School of Business in 1962, the Nike co-founder has also contributed millions the University of Oregon, where he graduated in 1959. Knight has reportedly donated more than $300 million to Oregon's athletic program, according to USA Today.