U. of N.C. Pharmacy School Gets $100-Million for Innovation Institute

How much: $100-million

Who got it: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Who gave it: Fred Eshelman, who founded Pharmaceutical Product Development, a consulting firm he sold in 2011, and Furiex Pharmaceuticals, a drug-development company he sold this year

Donor’s ties to the university: Mr. Eshelman earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the university in 1972. He previously gave the university a total of $38-million. The pharmacy school was named for him in 2008, and he serves as an adjunct faculty member of the institution and on its Board of Visitors. He earned a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1974.

What the money will do: Create the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, support research, increase the number of faculty members, and help build programs to develop new drugs and spin-off pharmaceutical companies

Why he gave: Mr. Eshelman says Robert Blouin, dean of the pharmacy school, approached him “with a new idea to supercharge some of the faculty research here, to get it to a phase where we could possibly commercialize it.”

A boost for a public university: “It seemed like the right thing to do at the right time, especially with public education under fire all over the country for various reasons,” says Mr. Eshelman. “We need some good news.”

Part of a trend: Mr. Eshelman’s latest donation is the seventh gift of $100-million or more to a college or university announced this year.