Penn State alumni Frank and Janet Dudek committed $2.5 million yesterday to the University to support several academic units. The donation will help establish scholarships, support research and purchase laboratory equipment for the College of Agricultural Sciences, the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the Eberly College of Science.

The College of Agricultural Sciences will use their portion of the donation to endow scholarships and graduate-level travel funding within the Department of Food Science. Earth and Mineral Sciences and Eberly will purchase new lab equipment.

This isn’t the first time that the Dudeks have given to Penn State. They previously endowed a graduate scholarship in the Department of Food Science and helped purchase new lab equipment for the department. Their second donation is quite timely, with many academic units struggling to cope with budget woes stemming from Governor Corbett’s proposed budget for the Commonwealth.