ASU recently created the International Institute for Sustainability to deal with global and regional ecological, economic and societal issues in an effort to ensure that humankind maintains a sustainable quality of life on Earth. The institute is being launched with a founding gift of $15 million from Julie Ann Wrigley, a philanthropist and member of the ASU Foundation board of directors and co-director of the Foundation’s Women and Philanthropy program.

“To our knowledge, this is the single largest gift ever dedicated to sustainability and it will give our initiatives a huge boost,” Jonathan Fink, vice president for research and economic affairs, said.

Located in metropolitan Phoenix, one of the nation’s fastest growing urban regions, the institute will research a number of challenges whose solutions have global application. These include rapid urbanization, water management in an arid environment, and border issues such as changing demographics and environmental equality.

The institute is expected to develop into a degree-granting school within two years and that would make ASU the first university in the world with a school fully dedicated to research, education and solutions to real-world problems in sustaining life on Earth.

Wrigley’s involvement in the International Institute for Sustainability is a natural outgrowth of her philanthropic activities. In addition to serving on the ASU Foundation board of directors, Wrigley is a member of the board of directors of The Peregrine Fund Inc. Wrigley and her husband, William Wrigley Jr., were instrumental in the creation of the USC/Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Catalina Island.

“The International Institute for Sustainability is both the culmination and the beginning of a lifelong dream,” Wrigley said. “I chose ASU because it was the best place to create a world-class institute, and it will have the greatest opportunity to make the biggest difference.”

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Julie Ann Wrigley

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