Pharmacy alumna and husband gift $6 million to name Purdue’s first-ever termed deanship

Jeannie (Bachelor of Science, Pharmacy, 1961) and Jim Chaney have pledged $6 million to benefit the College of Pharmacy. Effective July 1, their gift will establish the Jeannie and Jim Chaney Dean of Pharmacy for the next five years as well as the Jeannie and Jim Chaney Dean’s Excellence Fund Endowment for Pharmacy. At the end of the initial term, the donors will have the option to extend, renew, pivot away from or make permanent their named deanship.

Together, these gifts immediately elevate the prestige of the college while allowing the dean to make strategic investments in areas of emerging priority and jump-start new initiatives that impact faculty, staff and students. Given through the record-setting Purdue Day of Giving, the Chaney gift led the College of Pharmacy to the top of the donation leaderboard with $8,231,980 in total dollars raised during the effort in April.

“We see a need for Purdue’s pharmacy students to have the best education they can get while they’re in school,” Jeannie Chaney said. “There’s a huge need for pharmacists right now, and for that need to be fulfilled, people need to step up to the plate. Dean Barker has a vision of where the college needs to go in the years to come — he knows what’s needed. We saw that play out as he led the Protect Purdue committee to walk the narrow line of keeping the students safe while continuing their education.”

Jim Chaney said, “Dean Barker has been a tremendous leader for the College of Pharmacy, and we have wanted to invest in his vision for a while. Our relationships with the college have made a significant difference for us, and our financial commitments have progressed exponentially as our relationships have evolved. We are thrilled to see the positive impact our giving has made over many years.”

Jeannie Chaney served as a pharmacist in Ohio for nearly 50 years before retiring in 2011. She has served as chair of the President’s Council and as a member of the steering committee of Pharmacy Women for Purdue and the Pharmacy Alumni Board. Jim Chaney is president of the Cleveland Syrup Co., which provides sweeteners to food manufacturing companies. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Denison University.

Flexibility and creativity have been hallmarks of the Chaneys’ giving to Purdue. In 2018, the couple donated an additional $8 million to their Pacesetter Endowment for Pharmacy, which provides student scholarships now and ultimately will support the proposed Nursing and Pharmacy Education Building. This dual-purpose endowment appealed to the Chaneys because their investment created an impact from the start. In a similar way, the Chaneys’ 2022 pledge has the flexibility to address the college’s biggest current need — strategic investment funds for the dean — with the opportunity to pivot as the college’s needs or the donors’ long-term interests evolve.

“Having these types of discretionary funds allows us to make real-time investments of priority, such as our Emerging Leaders program as well as health equity, drug discovery and pharmaceutical manufacturing efforts,” said Eric Barker, dean of the College of Pharmacy. “Jeannie and Jim have once again demonstrated extraordinary generosity. This latest gift reflects their deep friendship with the college and their commitment to making Purdue’s College of Pharmacy the best in the nation.”

The Chaneys have supported a wide range of strategic opportunities at Purdue, including a lead gift for the Chaney-Hale Hall of Science, which opened in 2020, and a variety of student and faculty support funds and awards. Overall, the Chaney family has supported the college and the university for 44 years with a combined total of nearly $25.5 million in philanthropic support.

“Jim and Jeannie are models of philanthropy and generosity who love Purdue and understand how to affect strategic change through their giving,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said. “Their gifts elevate all of Purdue as they continue to invest in our students and faculty. We are ever grateful for their vision for our College of Pharmacy and beyond.”

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