The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law has announced four new endowment gifts totaling $5.5 million.

The country's first think tank dedicated to research on issues of sexual orientation law and public policy — and the only law school-based research center dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues — the Williams Institute makes information available to judges, legislators, and policy makers through public policy studies, law review articles, amicus briefs, expert testimony at legislative hearings, and trainings for lawyers and judges.

The gifts include $2 million from institute founder Chuck Williams, which will be combined with a previous $2 million gift to endow the Williams Distinguished Senior Research Fellows for interdisciplinary public policy research; $1.5 million from Jim Hooker to endow the R. Bradley Sears Law Teaching Fellowship, which will prepare outstanding law school graduates for careers in teaching and scholarship in the field of sexual orientation law and public policy; and $1 million from Peter J. Cooper and Norman Blachford to endow the Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellowship, which will be offered annually to a qualified college or graduate school graduate with a demonstrated interest in conducting research and writing on sexual orientation public policy issues.

In addition, Mike Gleason and David Kettel contributed $1 million to establish the Gleason/Kettel Endowment Fund, which will support in perpetuity the institute's general operating expenses. "We have seen the impact that the Williams Institute has had in the emergent and quickly growing field of sexual orientation law," said Gleason. "We are particularly impressed by the ways that the institute supports law and graduate students throughout the country. By investing in the...institute, we are investing in a better future."