A $10 million gift from a College of the Holy Cross alumnus will fund three endowed professorships and a new scholarship fund aimed at making the college more affordable for students.
Stephen P. Skinner, a 1977 graduate and former member of the Holy Cross board of trustees, has committed the gift to support faculty recruitment and retention as well as student financial aid, the college announced.
The gift provides $3 million apiece to establish the Skinner Family Professorship, the Elizabeth Ann and John C. Savage Professorship and the Dorothea A. and Irwin J. Skinner Professorship. Another $1 million establishes the Skinner Family Scholarship.
Beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, Holy Cross economics professor Victor Matheson will hold the Dorothea A. and Irwin J. Skinner Professorship of Economics.
Matheson, whose work focuses on sports economics, has become a familiar voice well beyond the Holy Cross campus on issues including stadium financing, public subsidies for professional sports and the economic impact of major sporting events. His research has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and state legislatures, according to the college.
Skinner, a principal with Boston-based management consulting firm Public Consulting Group, said the gift reflects both his gratitude for his own Holy Cross education and his desire to support future generations.
“Holy Cross has always punched above its weight in producing successful and influential graduates. But Holy Cross students are not only successful in their chosen fields, they are always figuring out ways to give back, to be ‘men and women for and with others,’” Skinner said in the college’s announcement, citing a guiding principle of Jesuit education. “What better legacy can anyone have than to contribute to that?”
Holy Cross President Vincent D. Rougeau said the gift will help the college provide future students with the educational opportunities that shaped Skinner’s own experience.
“Stephen Skinner’s extraordinary generosity reflects the very best of what it means to be a Holy Cross graduate,” Rougeau said in the announcement. “Through this gift, he is not only honoring the mentors and experiences that shaped his own education, but ensuring that future generations of students will have access to the same transformative academic opportunities. We are profoundly grateful for Stephen’s continued partnership and his enduring commitment to academic excellence and student access at Holy Cross.”
The gift also puts Matheson, one of the country’s more prominent scholars in the economics of sports, into an endowed position.
“We are deeply grateful for Stephen Skinner’s generous gift, which allows us to recognize Professor Victor Matheson as the Dorothea A. and Irwin J. Skinner Professor of Economics,” Provost Elliott Visconsi said in the announcement. “Professor Matheson exemplifies the transformational impact of a liberal arts education. His pioneering scholarship has shaped national discourse, while his commitment to exceptional teaching and undergraduate research demonstrates the very best of Holy Cross.”
It is not Skinner’s first major contribution to his alma mater.
In 2023, he endowed the Nancy Savage Skinner ’79 Fund for Experiential and Integrative Learning in the Creative, Performing and Liberal Arts in memory of his late wife. The fund supports student opportunities in the creative and performing arts.
Holy Cross, founded in Worcester in 1843, enrolls about 3,200 undergraduate students.
