Oregon Public Broadcasting

University of Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny announced Thursday his first contribution for U of O's academic programs.  Andrew Theen reports.

Before taking the helm of the athletic department last year, Kilkenny was known as a big-time donor.  He gave $6 million to the sports athletic department before joining the staff. Now he and his wife Stephanie are donating $1 million to academics.

Half of that money will be used to help train future athletic department executives.  It's a joint venture between the school's renowned sports marketing program and the business school.

Kilkenny is donating his salary for the next two years as well. That's half a million dollars.

Pat Kilkenny: "I did not want to send a message that this was about feathering my nest at any level, and decided that it would make a lot of sense to spend half the money on athletics and half on academics."

Kilkenny said one program teaches students how to give back to the community, something his wife was particularly happy about.

Half of his salary will go toward toward so called non-revenue sports like softball.