The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks has announced a $20 million gift from the Las Vegas-based Engelstad Family Foundation to the UND Foundation. The gift, the second-largest ever to benefit the university, after the $104 million given by the family to support construction of Ralph Engelstad Arena, will be used to fund scholarships and two endowed chairs.

Of the total, $4 million will be designated for scholarships for underrepresented minority groups in the UND student body; $4 million will be used to fund scholarships for Presidential Scholars, the school's designation for more than six hundred academically high achieving students on campus; $4 million will fund scholarships for "late bloomers," including students whose overall record did not qualify them for a UND scholarship but who revealed significant promise in their late high school or early college years; and $4 million will be set aside for athletic scholarships and to provide a portion of the endowment needed to support the school's move to Division I. In addition, gifts of $2 million each will endow chairs in medicine and engineering, which will carry the names of Ralph and Betty Engelstad.

With this latest gift, the Engelstad family has now given UND gifts valued at nearly $127.5 million, placing them among "the most significant university patrons in the history of American higher education," said UND president Charles Kupchella. Ralph Engelstad, a UND alumnus, Las Vegas casino owner, and self-made millionaire, died in 2002.

"The Engelstad Family Foundation recognizes the impact a UND education can and does have on individuals," the family said in a statement. "Those individuals become equipped tools to positively affect their own communities and professions as best as possible. It is our hope that this gift will...stimulate action and innovation within [UND] students and faculty."