Donors gift Wayne State with historic $50M for engineering college

The head of a global automotive consultancy and technology firm and his wife have now donated the largest single gift to Wayne State University in Detroit, surpassing Mike and Marian Ilitch.

WSU alumnus James A. Anderson and his wife, Patricia, have gifted the university with $50 million to use at the College of Engineering to accelerate research, entrepreneurship and student success, officials announced Friday.

It is the single largest financial donation in the Detroit university's 157-year history. Wayne State officials called it the "lead gift" in the silent phase of the university’s upcoming fundraising campaign, planned to launch publicly in fall 2026.The historic gift has led Wayne State to rename the college as the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering. University officials said it represented the lead gift in Wayne State's upcoming fundraising campaign that is expected to launch in fall 2026.

“We will build on more than a century of engineering talent that created a culture of innovation in our city, and the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering will be known as Detroit’s engineering school, setting a new standard of discovery and invention for generations,” WSU President Kimberly Andrews Espy said in a statement.

In 2015, WSU received its largest single gift of $40 million from the Ilitches — whose family ventures include the Little Caesars pizza chain, two professional sports franchises and the MotorCity Casino — to build a new business school.

Anderson's gift exceeds that by 25%. James Anderson, 80, is president and CEO of Urban Science, a Detroit-based business with 20 global offices, which uses science and data to offer solutions for automotive market challenges.

He and his wife's $50 million gift will be used to drive research in mobility, energy storage, artificial intelligence and other growing fields by supporting faculty, including doctoral fellowships, undergraduate student experiences and a dean’s fund to help recruit more top faculty and Ph.D. students. The gift also is intended to boost student initiatives, including those that help with careers.

“We are grateful for this gift, which arrives at a moment when our existing work meets innovation to create an unparalleled future opportunity,” said Ali Abolmaali, dean of WSU's engineering college.

It's not the first time the Andersons have worked with WSU's College of Engineering. The couple created in 2014 the James and Patricia Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute, which the university says "fosters a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship among students and faculty envisioning commercial applications for new technology, securing patents and establishing startups while providing opportunities for students to learn best practices in applied research, technology commercialization and business creation."Anderson, who earned bachelor's and master'sdegrees in civil engineering at Wayne State in 1967 and 1970, respectively, became a WSU engineering instructor in 1967, when he "developed environmental models and computer mapping techniques to display data," according to the university. He said he has "witnessed firsthand the power of a quality STEM education in transforming lives, economies and communities."

James Anderson said he his wife are "humbled and grateful" to commit to making WSU "a world-class training ground for Detroit’s next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs."

"We’re confident this gift will continue to create new opportunities for high-paying STEM careers, foster innovation and drive progress in the Motor City and beyond, and we’re honored to work alongside WSU’s esteemed leadership to bring it to fruition," Anderson said.

kkozlowski@detroitnews.com