McGill grad donates $5 million to Institute for Global Food Security
McGill University’s Macdonald Campus in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue got a major boost from a former student last week when it received a $5-million donation from Margaret A. Gilliam.
The donation to the university ’s Institute for Global Food Security will “help the campus’s professors, researchers and growing contingent of graduate students in their ongoing efforts to understand the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, and develop novel solutions to eradicate food insecurity around the world,” McGill said in a statement.
As a gesture of appreciation for Gilliam’s generous philanthropy, McGill announced it will be naming the Institute for Global Food Security in her honour.
The Institute, established in 2010, is recognized as Canada’s leading centre for research, education, and specialized initiatives related to food, agriculture, nutrition and water in a global context, McGill said.
“I am grateful to Margaret Gilliam for the commitment and generosity she has shown to the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and its efforts to advance global food security,” said Suzanne Fortier, McGill’s principal and vice-chancellor. “Ms. Gilliam’s investment will extend far beyond McGill and will ultimately have a powerful impact on the health and well-being of our entire global community.”
Gilliam’s donation will not only allow McGill to create an endowment to support the institute’s long-term growth and stability, it will also provide a graduate student fund for bursaries, internships and field studies support.
“Access to food and water are fundamental human rights that are being challenged by population growth, depletion of nonrenewable resources, armed conflict, pollution of ecosystems and the effects of climate change,” said Anja Geitmann, dean and associate vice-principal (Macdonald), Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“McGill and the Margaret A. Gilliam Institute for Global Food Security will rise to this challenge by engaging expertise from across disciplines and from all corners of the world.”
Gilliam said: “If we are to make any sort of impact on global food insecurity and raise millions of people out of the depths of hunger and malnutrition, it will require not just the attention and commitment of governments around the world, but also the technical and intellectual expertise of our top universities and our most advanced researchers.
“I am pleased that McGill is working so hard to address this issue, and to introduce a new generation of students to the field, and I am excited that I can lend my support to this important global endeavour.”
Gilliam is a longtime supporter of her alma mater and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
This latest donation brings Gilliam’s lifetime support to the Institute to $6.5 million.
In 2012, another donation from Gilliam helped establish the Margaret A. Gilliam Faculty Scholar in Global Food Security.
After studying science at McGill University, Ottawa-born Gilliam earned a degree from the Harvard-Radcliffe program in Business Administration before embarking on a successful career in New York as a retail strategist and consultant.