The Dallas-based O’Donnell Foundation is committing $60 million to Southern Methodist University to help the school advance its vision of becoming a national leader in energy studies amid the industry’s boom in North Texas.
The donation is the second-largest gift in the university’s history after a $100 million commitment from the Moody Foundation in 2019 created the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. The late Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. started the O’Donnell Foundation in 1957, focused on bolstering math, science and arts.
The investment from the prominent benefactor with a record of hefty donations to Texas schools will help SMU recruit top faculty, create an honors fund and launch an energy studies program.
The university is touting a new “Energy Science, Innovation and Enterprise” program as the first of its kind, due to its interdisciplinary approach. The program will prepare students for careers in energy, oil and gas, entrepreneurship, and more.
The Education Lab
Bringing in faculty across the university’s business, engineering, and humanities and sciences schools, the program will fuse various subjects associated with the energy industry, from economics to engineering to public policy. The school’s goal is to develop top-notch leaders who can steer the industry from any angle.
“The energy sector is so front and center here, not only in the state of Texas, but also in Dallas,” SMU President Jay Hartzell told The Dallas Morning News in an interview Friday. “Energy is an area where we thought it was really ripe for an opportunity.”
A student walked in front of J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering at Southern Methodist University on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Dallas.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
Texas produces about 25% of the nation’s wind energy, 25% of its fossil fuels and 5% of its nuclear energy. Texas employs about 990,100 workers in energy-related fields, according to the latest U.S. Energy and Employment Report.
While the state is “the epicenter” of a global energy industry, Dallas is uniquely positioned to lead it, said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU, who helped envision the new program. The region is home to automotive companies, oil and gas businesses, and major financial institutions.
“Dallas has all of that, and that’s why SMU is really the ideal place to locate a program like this,” Bullock said.
Students in the new program will learn not only the technical skills, but also the soft skills, like leadership, integrity and work ethic, Bullock added. That’s especially important in an industry like energy, where leaders are required to manage big teams early in their careers, he said.
“You want people that you are working with in another company to trust you. You want your boss to trust you. You want the industry to trust you.” Bullock said. “Instilling those kinds of work values and qualities in people is extremely important.”
Related
William Solomon, president, chairman and CEO of the O’Donnell Foundation, shared SMU’s vision of an energy-driven future. The organization seeks to invest in budding leaders who will “fulfill that promise for North Texas,” he said.
“New technologies and new ways of providing more energy, in our current era and looking forward to the next few years, is a real priority,” Solomon said. “We think it’s an investment well worth making.”
SMU will also start an honors program in the foundation’s name, called the O’Donnell Academic Honors Fund. Selected students will gain a “distinctive educational experience,” studying closely with faculty members and in small classroom sizes.
The “highly personalized” honors program will focus on students in “high-impact fields,” starting with those majoring in biology, chemistry and applied physiology and health management. Those programs will access four years of seed funding to recruit faculty and a career counselor.
Twenty students from each chosen major will receive scholarships and career advising. Scholars in their third year will have professional experiences that align with their major, like assisting in research or internships.
The offerings will start in fall 2026. The programs support SMU’s new strategic plan, set to be unveiled in spring 2026. The donation will allow the school to pursue its “relentless focus” on attracting top-tier students and faculty members, Hartzell said.
“We’re a magnet for talent from all over the country,” he said.
Hartzell hopes prospects who are looking for an “innovative, interdisciplinary approach to energy” are thinking to themselves: “This is the place to do it.”
SMU serves about 7,600 undergraduate students and 5,000 graduate students, according to university data. An undergraduate student living on campus can expect to pay about $93,000 annually. The university boasts an endowment of $2.3 billion.
SMU became one of 16 Texas institutions awarded an R1 designation under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education this year. It’s a coveted status recognizing universities that spend significantly on research and produce a high number of research doctorates. The designation can boost a school’s national standing, drawing in talented students and faculty, as well as more research money.
Related
The O’Donnell Foundation has donated almost $100 million to SMU over the past three years. In 2023, the foundation invested $30 million to strengthen SMU’s engineering and data science programs — $15 million to the O’Donnell Data Science and Research Computing Institute, and $15 million to the Initiative for Digital Innovation in Engineering and Computer Science.
Since the foundation’s founding, the O’Donnells have donated a total of $780 million, according to Peter O’Donnell Jr.‘s published memoir.
Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. received honorary degrees from SMU in 2008 in recognition of their philanthropy.
Courtesy of SMU
The foundation has made higher education a focal point. In October, the O’Donnell Foundation invested $50 million in schools across Dallas, including the University of North Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Dallas and SMU.
Related
At SMU, Peter O’Donnell Jr., a Dallas native, sat on the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors and on the Lyle School of Engineering Executive Board, according to the university. Edith O’Donnell served on the Meadows School of the Arts’ Executive Board.
Peter O’Donnell Jr. funded his family fortune through a prosperous brokerage business. He died in 2021 at the age of 97. His wife died in 2020 at the age of 94.
Southern Methodist University on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Dallas.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
As Solomon carries on their work, he said the SMU gift embodies the late couple’s legacy, hopes and dreams for North Texas.
“I think they would be very pleased,” he said. “This would be one of our largest grants, because we think it’s one of our most exciting possibilities.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.