The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy kicked off homecoming weekend in a big way.
On Friday morning, Rick Schnellmann, dean of the college, announced a $50 million gift the college has received from UA alumnus R. Ken Coit.
“In the last 74 years, the college has grown from a small group of students with a pioneering vision to one of the premier pharmacy schools in the country. And today, we will take our next great leap,” Schnellmann said from a podium during an on-campus ceremony recognizing Coit’s donation.
As of Friday, the College of Pharmacy has been officially renamed the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy in honor of Coit’s contributions.
The “transformative” gift, which is one of the largest in the UA’s history, has established six new endowed chairs in drug discovery, neurodegenerative diseases and toxicology and four endowed professorships. The gift is also funding 42 new scholarships for pharmacy students as well as allowing for investments in research equipment and facilities upgrades. Part of it has already been used to expand a wing of the college’s museum, which will now be known as the Coit Museum of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
This donation is part of what helped push the UA’s endowment past $1 billion this year, which was a first in the school’s 136-year history.
Coit’s gift, Schnellmann said, “will help us to recruit and retain world-renowned scientists,” and “allow the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy to remain on the forefront of pharmaceutical sciences and provide current and future pharmacy students opportunities to assist in the reshaping of health care and treatment.”
In 2020, U.S. News and World Report ranked the UA’s pharmacy school 20th in the nation.
Coit graduated from the UA in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy but left the industry after a few years to focus on investing. That hasn’t stopped him from supporting pharmacy education, however. With Friday’s gift included, he’s either donated or pledged a total of $68 million to the college.
“The four years I spent here at the University of Arizona were fantastic. Probably the best four years of my career,” Coit said after Friday’s ceremony. He said he’s always recognized the importance of giving back, a trait he learned from his mother while growing up in California’s San Joaquin Valley. As he’s become more financially successful over the past several decades, Coit said philanthropy has remained a priority.
The $50 million he gave to the UA this year, he said, was yet another opportunity to advance the field of pharmacy and “make the world better.”
“I saw the potential with what we could do for research and helping mankind, and helping students achieve the American dream,” said Coit, who is a member of the pharmacy school’s national advisory board. “I think getting the best and brightest students, professors and researchers at the UA is extremely important.”
He’s especially hopeful about the potential of the six endowed chairs his gift is funding, and expects the scientists who will hold those positions over the next 30-40 years, will make “continual breakthroughs on Alzheimer’s, dementia, cancer and all kinds of health problems.”
UA President Robert Robbins praised Coit’s donation and said the size and scope of it “is going to inspire, incentivize others to give large, transformative gifts.”
“This gift further validates the breadth and depth of the incredible work happening across this campus,” Robbins said. “With this gift, the college will continue to be a crucial site of impact for the entire university.”
