The Stanford Institute for Research on Women and Gender was recently renamed the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research to acknowledge the $3 million donation from alumna Michelle Clayman.

“We are delighted to recognize Michelle’s leadership through the new name,” remarked Sharon Long, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of Humanities and Sciences. “She has provided strong leadership and tireless enthusiasm as she helped the Stanford faculty move forward in the larger goals of the Institute to advance our understanding of gender as it relates to key social issues.”

Clayman, who earned her master’s in business administration in 1979 from the Graduate School of Business, is also chair of the National Advisory Panel to the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

Michelle Cale, the associate director of the Institute, said that Clayman “has a strong interest in the equality of women and a belief in their ability to prospect. She was looking for a place in the University that shared these beliefs.”

Clayman’s $3 million gift was matched by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s donation to the School of Humanities and Sciences, as well as nine other anonymous donors, to reach the Institute’s $10 million endowment goal.

According to Long, the recent influx of donations “will ensure the long-term viability of this program by providing an ongoing and stable base of financial support for the institute’s core needs,” which include gender-based research, a graduate dissertation program and research fellowships. The Institute is an independent, research-focused University organization that does not include undergraduate or PhD programs.

The Institute was founded in 1974 as the Center for Research on Women. In 1996, it was renamed the Institute for Research on Women and Gender to reflect the inclusion of issues of masculinity.

The Institute’s focus also corresponds to the background and goals of its acting director. The current director, History of Science Prof. Londa Schiebinger, focuses the current research interests of the Institute on the role of women in science, technology and engineering, in addition to relationships between men and women in the workplace.

Cale commented that the most recent change in the name of the Institute indicates that “many of the issues we deal with now are both women’s and men’s issues,” citing the example of a current hot topic — division of labor in the household.

“The institute has produced groundbreaking work over the last 30 years, enhancing the lives of women all over the globe,” Clayman stated in a press release. “I hope that this gift will strengthen the institute and allow it to continue its tradition of excellence in research.”