Anonymous donor gives $2.5 million to Catholic University

A $2.5 million gift to Catholic University will endow a chair at the School of Philosophy, the Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, the school president, announced recently. The donor asked to remain anonymous.

"This chair will advance in perpetuity the research, writing and teaching to which the school is devoted in service to society and the church," the school's dean, the Rev. Kurt Pritzl, said in a statement.

Catholic, a private university in Northeast Washington, has one of the few philosophy faculties in the country organized as a separate school. The new position, which is not limited to any particular area of philosophy, will bring the total number of faculty to 19. The school offers both graduate and undergraduate programs.