Chapman University in Orange will today announce that it has been given a “multi-million” dollar donation to support its small but quickly growing programs in science. But the school says it isn’t disclosing the precise amount of the gift because the donors want to keep attention focused on science instead of themselves.

The money – which amounts to at least $2 million – comes from Richard Schmid, founder/CEO of Schmid Engineering in Tustin, and his brother Don Schmid, chairman of ECCO equipment rentals in Santa Ana, the campus says.

Richard and Don are sons of the late Walter Schmid, a German immigrant who achieved great success in farming and became one of the university’s largest benefactors, helping to fund everything from a theater to a center for international business.

Danielle Struppa, Chapman’s chancellor, says today’s gift “will be an endowment that will be used to secure a variety of important activities for the college (visiting scholars, conferences, etc.) The money will not be used for a build, nor (do) we expect to use it for endowed chairs.”

The gift comes about four months after Chapman aggressively moved to fill a self-described “gap” in its academic programs by recruiting five physicists and computational scientists from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where Struppa used to work. (Read earlier story.) The hires included Yakir Aharonov, an internationally known physicist who will help lead Chapman’s first physics program. It was the second high-profile raid by Chapman, coming about a year after Struppa and President James Doti lured Nobel laureate Vernon Smith from George Mason.

The raids represent a strategic move by Chapman to leaven its faculty with more professors who are deeply involved in research as well as teaching.

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