USD-Magazine-Spring-2025

WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT DURING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY FOUNDERS GALA? The main thing I was thinking was: Were you out of your mind when you agreed to do it this way? [laughter] I mean, I was terrified. I thought, oh Darlene, you’ve not done this right. And then as I got closer [to making the announcement] — and anybody who has performed is turned on by an audience — you look out there, you see these faces, and you don’t really know what’s coming next. Especially when I’m speaking, you don’t really know what’s coming next! But I felt that everybody was with us — and after my announcement about Donald’s and my gift, I thought — wow, everybody thinks this is a good idea.

WHY IS THIS GIFT FOCUSED ON STEM EDUCATION AND RESEARCH? Our focus has always been in education, health and the arts. In the last few years, I’ve shifted the focus more to STEM. Donald and I are supporters of all categories of education, including Catholic universities, public universities, community colleges, Catholic high schools and elementary schools. The pieces of STEM were all things that Donald excelled at. It’s the most logical thing in the world. I think the future lies in people like Donald, grabbing whatever talents they have and finding the best place to use them. STEM is the future — and especially in San Diego. You get to go to school here and then stay and work here. I believe that science, technology, engineering and math are always going to be important and that’s the best place for me to make this gift. With the STEM emphasis, my hope is that the transformative nature of the gift will make students feel it is important. People are supporting this, and the university is going to do this. Students will say, “It must be important. I’m pretty good at this. I’m going to focus on this.” They don’t all have to be heart valve inventors. But I want them to feel that they’ve chosen a good area of interest and they are going in the right direction. They can make a living. They can have a family. They can do something they feel really good about and that they’re good at. If you can get a student to think that way, we’re doing our job. It certainly worked for me, it worked for Donald and it worked for lots of people.

WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO INVEST IN USD IN SUCH A BIG WAY? I like to concentrate on the positive, because my job is to do the things that Donald and I thought we should do. That had a lot to do with my gift to USD. It was time to do something big that fits the word ‘transformative.’ The STEM field is very important — and Donald was obviously big in that field. I thought a lot about the gift I wanted to give, and I told [President] Jim [Harris] what I wanted to do — and he asked how I came up with that number. It was the university’s 75th anniversary, and I thought that would be nifty. I also adore President Harris. I think he was the absolute right man at the right time, and I really like what he’s done for USD.

I think it’s important that people know things don’t just happen. They happen because somebody does something out of the ordinary or pushes the envelope just a little bit.

30 | University of San Diego Magazine