Duke University has announced a $30 million gift from alumni J. Michael and Christine Pearson to the Pratt School of Engineering to advance engineering and science education across the university.

The gift will support interdisciplinary programs, courses, and research at the engineering school, including major initiatives in collaboration with Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, as part of a broader initiative to prepare engineering students with not only technical skills but the broad perspectives needed to address critical global issues. The gift is the sixth largest to date to the university's $3.25 billion Duke Forward campaign, and one of the three largest ever made in support of the engineering school.

J. Michael Pearson, who graduated from Duke in 1981, is chairman and CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and currently serves on the Fuqua School of Business' board of visitors. Christine Pearson is a 1984 graduate of the university's School of Nursing.

"Connecting all majors to scientific inquiry and discovery will result in a creative life of the mind that will last well beyond Duke. Such integration will also help to develop better-informed citizens, ethical stewards of wealth, technology-literate consumers, and wiser guardians of our environmental future," said Trinity College dean Laurie L. Patton. "We're grateful the Pearsons share our vision for strengthening ties between engineering and science disciplines. The broader partnership between Pratt and Arts & Sciences can only grow, given this extraordinary beginning."