A $1 million donation to WSU’s viticulture and enology program will help fund teaching labs and facilities and student scholarships over the span of five years.

WSU has researched enology and viticulture since the 1930s and enrolled its first undergraduates in the department in 2004. WSU President Kirk Schulz said the donation would help establish WSU’s credibility as an institution.

“The gift is key to finishing our infrastructure,” Schulz said. “But the scholarship piece is just as important. We have a lot of first-generation college students. These funds will help these students pursue their passions.”

Half of the donation will help fund the Life Science Teaching Laboratory at the WSU Wine Science Center in the Tri-Cities campus, and $100,000 in scholarships will be disbursed to students every year for the next five years.

Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation, a philanthropic organization of the eponymous publication, has also granted $3 million to similar departments and initiatives at Cornell University, UC Davis and University of Miami, among others.

Reporting by Jessica Zhou