Stanford to open climate change school with $1.1 billion from John Doerr

Stanford University has received a record-setting $1.1 billion donation from venture capitalist John Doerr to open a climate change school this fall.

The private research university said Wednesday in a news release that Arun Majumdar, a former acting undersecretary of energy under President Barack Obama, will lead the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability — the first new school to open at the California campus in 70 years.

Mr. Doerr, based in Silicon Valley, served on an economic advisory board in the Obama administration and has served on the board of the Obama Foundation.

“Today’s real and pressing challenges — not least, solving our climate crisis — require that knowledge be channeled toward the building of practical, implementable solutions,” Mr. Doerr and his wife, Ann, said in a statement.

Stanford said the donation — the largest in its history — will fund new faculty and buildings and an institute that promotes climate-change policies to secure “the future of the planet.”

Mr. Doerr’s gift is the second-largest in history to a university, behind only the $1.8 billion that ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave to Johns Hopkins University in 2018, according to Chronicle of Higher Education data.