The ExxonMobil Foundation has donated nearly $602,000 to Cornell through its 2008 Educational Matching Gifts Program.

Cornell trustee Sherri Stuewer '73, M.S. '75, vice president of environmental policy and planning at ExxonMobil, presented Cornell President David Skorton a check for $601,743 during the Cornell Board of Trustees meeting in New York City, June 11. It was the program's most generous gift to Cornell to date.

The matching gifts program allows ExxonMobil employees, retirees, surviving spouses and directors to make contributions to higher education institutions of their choice. The foundation matches gifts of up to $7,500 on a three-to-one basis. Last year, Cornell received $592,216 through the same program, which has raised more than $398 million for college and universities since its inception in 1962.

Cornell received the fifth-largest amount out of 900 institutions that benefited from the 2008 gift program, according to ExxonMobil. In total, the foundation raised $36 million through the program that year.