Stanford University has announced a $5 million gift from the Hong Kong-based Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation to endow the Stanford Center for Buddhist Studies and fund graduate fellowships in the subject.

The newly named Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Center for Buddhist Studies will use the gift and matching funds from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to expand and strengthen Stanford's internationally recognized Buddhist studies program by enhancing support for faculty and student research, visiting fellows, curriculum development, and academic and public events. Since 1994, Stanford's graduate program in Buddhist studies — one of the largest in the country — has produced twenty-two graduates who are now teaching at universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The Ho Family Foundation supports and develops programs related to both Buddhism and Chinese culture. The Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford will be one of a network of such centers for Buddhist studies supported by the foundation.

"We look forward to working with a worldwide network of Ho Centers for Buddhist Studies as they are established in the near future," said Irene Lin, the center's associate director. "Such a network will do much to promote the collaboration and communication in the field of Buddhist studies, making the discipline truly international and seamless."