Dream Big

UH launches next phase of $1 billion fundraising campaign with $20 million donation

University of Houston president Renu Khator and philanthropist Kathrine McGovern flash the Cougar sign.

Photo courtesy of the University of Houston

Aiming to raise $1 billion, University of Houston officials launched the public phase of its capital campaign Wednesday night, announcing a $20 million gift from the John P. McGovern Foundation and plans to rename the college of arts after Kathrine G. McGovern. She is the widow of John P. McGovern, a noted Houston allergist, investor and philanthropist who died in 2007 at the age of 85.

The Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts will be the first college at the university named after a former student and also the first named after a woman. The gift will create a permanent endowment for the college, where Kathrine McGovern studied art and design at UH in the 1950s and '60s.

Two year ago, the John P. McGovern Foundation donated $75 million to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and its medical school, which was renamed the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School. It is the largest gift in UTHealth's history.

The University of Houston fundraising campaign, led by alums Tilman Fertitta, Beth Madison, John L. Nau III, and Marvin Odum, is the largest in the school's 90-year history. "It's an ambitious campaign, but when the University of Houston dreams, we always dream big," UH president Renu Khator said in a statement.

Thus far, 130,000 donors have given $680 million in a "quiet campaign" that began in 2012. The funds will be used for student scholarships and fellowships, state-of-the-art facilities, attracting and retaining top faculty, advancing academic programs, workforce training and research, and building a "nationally relevant" athletics program.

The McGovern gift was announced at rally on the UH campus. On Thursday (January 19), activities to highlight the fundraising drive will include a campus kickoff, panel discussions featuring notable alumni, an interactive student philanthropy station, video and photo stations, and a rally and tailgate party prior to the men’s basketball game versus Memphis.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”