Fort Worth oilman, wife give UT $20M
College of Liberal Arts to receive $2 million annually for 10 years.
Bobby Patton Jr. started his studies at the University of Texas in the prestigious Plan II honors program, then switched to finance and earned his bachelor’s in business administration.
But the exposure to history, literature and philosophy in Plan II — an interdisciplinary arts and science major — left a lifelong impression on Patton, a Fort Worth energy and real estate investor who is also part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Wednesday, the university is announcing a $20 million donation from Patton and his wife, Sherri, that will benefit faculty members and students in the College of Liberal Arts, one of UT’s largest academic units and the home of Plan II.
“After I left UT, I realized just how important liberal arts were to my life,” Patton said in a statement. “They taught me how to learn and how to keep on learning.”
Patton operates oil and gas properties in Texas and Kansas, and he also has holdings in insurance and other sectors. Two years ago, The Wall Street Journal, describing him as a billionaire, said he spent more than the $10.9 million asking price to
outmaneuver D.R. Horton Inc., a major homebuilding company, to acquire the 174,000-acre York Ranch in New Mexico.
UT President Gregory L. Fenves, who with his wife, Carmel, attended a Dodgers game in June with the Pattons, said most of their donation would be used to endow so-called challenge grants. In such arrangements, other donors to the College of Liberal Arts would be able to get their gifts matched by the Pattons’ money.
“The goal is to essentially double the funding,” Fenves said.
Randy Diehl, dean of the college, said the $20 million is to be paid in installments of $2 million annually for 10 years. The donation is the largest in the college’s history, eclipsing $15
Most of the donation will endow so-called challenge grants.
million pledged in 2010 by the Mulva Family Foundation for space in the Liberal Arts Building to accommodate Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs.
The Pattons’ donation will endow faculty positions, graduate student fellowships and “experiential learning” opportunities for undergraduates such as study abroad, research and internships. In a nod to the university’s commitment to diversity, Diehl said $500,000 endowments would be established for a professorship in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies and a professorship in the Department of Mexican American and Latino Studies.
The dean said his school’s graduate student fellowships aren’t competitive, running $6,000 to $10,000 behind those of other major public research universities. Most donors who want to support students favor undergraduates.
“I’m going to go out and beat the drum and talk about the importance of graduate student fellowships,” Diehl said, noting that top professors attract top graduate students and vice versa.
Patton was born and raised in Fort Worth. After graduating from UT, he earned a law degree from St. Mary’s University and a master’s of law from Southern Methodist University. Sherri Patton earned a law degree from SMU and served as an assistant district attorney in Dallas.