UVa Library Press Releases 2000 - 2001
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY AND MONTICELLO
RECEIVE $1.5 MILLION GIFT TO SUPPORT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Contact: Melissa Cox Norris at (804) 924-4254 or mln4n@virginia.edu
March 14, 2001 - Jeffrey C. Walker, a University of Virginia graduate who sits on the Board of Trustees of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., has made a gift of $1.5 million to boost the level of information technology employed at Monticello and the University of Virginia Library‰s Electronic Text Center.
At Monticello, $1 million of Walker‰s gift will endow the Walker Fund for Technology, which will be used to purchase, install and maintain computer hardware and software that will make operations more efficient and open up new avenues for scholarship and research.
"Jeff Walker‰s enlightened philanthropy will make it possible for Monticello to use information technology to advance significantly its core mission of education and preservation," said Daniel P. Jordan, president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the nonprofit organization that owns and operates Monticello.
At the University Library, Walker‰s gift will establish a fund to support digital initiatives in the world-renowned Electronic Text (Etext) Center. Income from the Jeffrey C. Walker Fund for Technology in the Humanities will provide quick-response digitizing for faculty and Library projects (including work on the papers of Thomas Jefferson and other early American documents), train and support graduate students, and keep computer hardware and software up to date.
Walker‰s gift will help the University meet a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant, which will allow the University Library to create a $1 million endowment for the Etext Center.
"Jeff Walker‰s generous gift gives the Library the major support it needs to ensure that we meet the NEH challenge, but more importantly, provides immediate funding for our most innovative efforts in bringing humanities texts online," said University Librarian Karin Wittenborg.
Walker, a resident of Wilton, Conn., is managing partner of J.P. Morgan Partners in New York, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.‰s global private equity fund. A 1977 graduate of U.Va.‰s McIntire School of Commerce and the holder of a master‰s degree in business administration from Harvard University, he joined the board of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation earlier this year.
Monticello and U.Va. have a long history of cooperation, especially on programs and projects relating to Jefferson, who founded the University and supervised its construction while living at Monticello. The International Center for Jefferson Studies, located on the Kenwood estate adjacent to Monticello, is co-sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and U.Va., and the two institutions jointly conduct a number of lectures, classes, seminars, workshops, and other activities each year.
