The University of Southern California has announced a pledge of $20 million from trustee Ray Irani to establish a residential college at USC Village, a retail-residential project currently under construction just north of the school's University Park Campus.

The Ray Irani Residential College, one of nine residential colleges planned for the village, will integrate living, learning, and extracurricular activities for up to three hundred and twenty students. In all, the residence halls at the new colleges will add up to twenty-seven hundred student beds to the University Park Campus and increase the number of students in USC-owned housing by nearly 40 percent.

The gift also includes funding for the Ghada Irani Chair in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, which is named for Irani's wife, and the Ray Irani Chair in a school or department to be designated later. In addition, $1 million of the gift will be allocated for student support.

Irani, an alumnus of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, began his career as a research scientist at the Monsanto Co. After stints at Diamond Shamrock Corp. and the Olin Corp., he joined Occidental Petroleum Corp. in 1983 and quickly ascended the ladder to become the company's president. Under Irani's leadership, Occidental grew to become the nation’s fourth-largest oil and gas company. He retired from the company as chairman and CEO in 2013.

"As a trustee, donor, alumnus, and distinguished faculty member, Ray Irani has been a pivotal partner — and beloved member — of the USC community for more than six decades," said USC president C.L. Max Nikias. "Dr. Irani's most recent gift helps assure that the USC Village will provide the world-class living and learning environment that our outstanding students deserve, while nurturing their intellectual, creative, and personal growth."