Last Thursday, University officials announced that Ward W. Woods, Class of ’64 and a Stanford trustee, plans to commit $30 million to the Stanford Institute for the Environment. The gift will be used to launch programs and fund research in the field of environmental science and policy. In recognition of the gift, the institute will be renamed the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford.

“Stanford University has long been recognized for its broad strengths in environmental scholarship. The Woods’ generous gift builds on that foundation and enables us to expand our efforts,” President John Hennessy said in a statement. “Through his leadership and service to the University, Ward has done much to contribute to its excellence. He has a great appreciation for what it takes to nurture innovation. The Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford will serve as an incubator — pioneering multidisciplinary solutions to environmental challenges and educating the next generation of leaders on these issues.”

The Woods Institute will play an integral role in Stanford’s Initiative for Environmental Sustainability, which seeks to balance human needs with the delicate supply of the Earth’s natural resources in order to provide a sustainable existence for future generations.

“Solving the world’s urgent environmental problems takes bold ideas from leaders and experts in many fields and involves collaboration of researchers from diverse disciplines,” Woods said in the statement. “Most of all, it takes a conviction that these problems are largely solvable and a tough-minded commitment to seeking the solutions that gain traction in the real world. Stanford’s preeminence as a research university and its history of multidisciplinary cooperation provide the best academic combination for addressing these problems.”

According to Hennessy, only about $1 million of Woods’ donation has been slated for use, and even that much is tentative. It is certain, however, that none of the money will go towards the new Environment & Energy Building, which is expected to open in late 2007. The building will be a part of the new Engineering Quad, set for completion in 2012.

“Ward Woods is very active in supporting the work of various organizations involved in conservation and has been very involved in helping formulate the goals and vision of the environmental initiative at Stanford,” said Jeffrey Koseff, co-director of the Woods Institute and the Michael Forman University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. “In the near term the money [he donated] will be used for our Environmental Ventures Program, for supporting some of the strategic collaborations we are building in the area of food security and the environment, in energy efficiency and in developing a new environmental leadership and management program with some of the professional schools at Stanford.”

The Institute acts as a synthesizer for the many different areas of environmental study and research, explained the Woods Institute communications manager, Kathy Neal.

“One of the most challenging aspects about environmental problems is that they’re not simple,” she said. “They involve science, policy, laws and regulations, human behavior, economics and many other factors. So to solve them, we need to engage scientists, engineers, social scientists, business people, healthcare professionals, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations and many others. The Woods gift will help move our efforts forward significantly.”

The gift has already begun funding two important research projects. The Program on Global Food Security and the Environment, a joint project with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, is the first study to receive support. The project aims to find new solutions to the “closely related problems of hunger and destructive farming practices around the globe.” The other project is a new center for energy efficiency, which will investigate “innovative, economically sound technologies, policies and systems for reducing energy consumption and for using energy more efficiently.”

“The initiative on Environmental Sustainability has been funded to date by a mix of University funds and from private donations,” said Koseff. “Stanford is extremely fortunate to have many very committed alums and friends who have supported its various initiatives in very generous ways. As generous as our donors are, the Woods gift is very distinctive because of its size. The magnitude of this gift is very reflective of not only the commitment of Ward and Priscilla Woods to the environment and to sustainable development, but also to Stanford University and its success in the future.”

Other investors are also intrigued by the Initiative for Environmental Sustainability and have made donations. Melvin B. and Joan F. Lane made a donation, which was matched by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Other donors have contributed as well. All in all, donations to the initiative amount to more than $40 million.

“The Woods’ gift will help the Institute, and the environmental initiative more broadly, to both develop working solutions to the world’s environmental problems and train environmental leaders,” Buzz Thompson, Koseff’s counterpart at the Woods Institute, said. “Stanford’s goal is to work actively with private and public decision-makers around the world to find, develop and implement working solutions. The Woods’ gift will allow Stanford to significantly expand this collaborative work and thereby improve global environmental sustainability.”