UI business school, athletics will benefit from $5 million Tippie gift

A $5 million gift to the University of Iowa from Henry and Patricia Tippie will benefit students in the Tippie College of Business as well as projects in the Athletics Department, UI officials said Monday.

The Tippie gift, announced by UI officials Monday, is part of the more than $1 billion the university has raised so far toward the $1.7 billion goal of the current comprehensive campaign, "For Iowa. Forever More: The Campaign for the University of Iowa."

That fundraising campaign recently entered the public phase and wraps up in 2016.

The Tippies, who live in Austin, Texas, are longtime UI donors, and the business college is named for Henry Tippie.

A $2 million portion of the gift has established the Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Athletic Fund, which supports the football practice facility building campaign. Another $1 million has been added to the Henry Fund and will provide scholarship support for one or more Hawkeye football student-athletes majoring in business. The remaining $2 million of the gift is supplementing the existing Tippie College of Business Endowment Fund, which is used for student scholarships and faculty.

Originally from Belle Plaine, Tippie earned a degree in accounting from the UI in 1949.