Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, has received donations totaling $5 million from Terry Huffington, mother of two Wesleyan students (class of 2011 and 2014); the Huffington family, heirs to the estate of oilman Roy M. Huffington; and the Huffington Foundation, the Middletown Press reports.

The $3 million gift from the Huffington Foundation will be used to create an endowed faculty chair at the College of the Environment devoted to the development of environmental knowledge and the exploration of innovative approaches to ecological problems. Wesleyan economics professor Gary Yohe will be the first to serve as the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair. The remaining $2 million from Huffington and her family will be used to create endowed scholarships as part of the university's needs-based financial aid program.

"Through these very generous gifts, Terry Huffington, her family, and the Huffington Foundation have contributed to our highest priorities — curricular innovation and access to a Wesleyan education," said the university's president, Michael S. Roth. "Their support helps Wesleyan maintain its leadership position in liberal arts education and secure its future with a stronger endowment. I am deeply grateful."