UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

When Dallas oilman John Jackson died two years ago, he left the geology program at the University of Texas $232 million in stocks, bonds, other securities and royalty interests.

It was the second-largest gift in the history of U.S. public higher education, and it is a gift that keeps on giving.

Each month, the operators of about 1,200 wells northwest of Fort Worth mail royalty checks totaling $300,000 to a foundation at UT's John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences.

Now comes the hard part: using these riches to transform a good geology program into an outstanding one.

"We've got a great opportunity, but we've also got an equally great challenge," said William Fisher, the school's dean, whose decades-long friendship with Jackson was pivotal in securing the bequest. "He wanted to have a major impact on the advancement of geosciences."

A dramatic expansion of the faculty is planned, and with Fisher, 73, looking to scale back his administrative duties, a search committee has been formed to find a new dean. The study of water resources will get greater emphasis, in accordance with Jackson's wishes. The school was recently elevated to college-level status, putting geosciences on par with business, communications, liberal arts and other major academic areas in the campus organizational chart. And in mid-October, ground was broken at UT's J.J. Pickle Research Campus in North Austin for a building for the Institute for Geophysics, a research unit of the Jackson school.

Not everyone was thrilled that Jackson restricted the use of his gift to geology and related fields, such as energy resources and earth sciences, said UT President Larry Faulkner. After all, many departments at the university could use a few more professors.

"The gift, spectacular though it is, couldn't drive the university to a position of leadership in all fields," Faulkner said. "Focus is necessary."

Drive to be the best

UT is certainly no slouch in geology. The most recent ranking of geology departments, compiled by U.S. News & World Report in 1999, put the university in a six-way tie for 11th place. Its program in sedimentology and stratigraphy — the branch of geology focusing on rocks that contain coal, natural gas, water and other deposits — was ranked No. 1.

But an advisory committee that included some of the nation's top geologists concluded in December 2003 that UT's Department of Geological Sciences is not as good as its reputation would suggest because of a failure to hire strong replacements for retiring professors. The panel, known as the "vision committee," praised the geophysics institute and another research unit, the Bureau of Economic Geology.

Jackson, a 1940 graduate of UT's geology program who went on to make his fortune in energy and real estate, wanted his bequest to propel the university into a top-five ranking in five years and to No. 1 in 10 years.

That's a tall order but not surprising in light of Jackson's quietly ambitious approach to life.

He used technical knowhow and canny instincts to drill in an unconventional fashion, striking natural gas in Wise County in North Texas at a time when others were drilling dry holes. His fortune secured by 1960, Jackson branched out into real estate in Dallas with equal success.

As a member of the advisory council for UT's Geology Foundation, a group that raises and distributes money for geology programs, Jackson gave $15 million for a new wing and $25 million to underwrite the geology school, which, in turn, was named for him and his wife, who died in 2001.

His friendship with Fisher deepened Jackson's devotion to his alma mater. Fisher, who conducted pioneering research in oil and gas geology, has been a fixture at UT for 45 years, having led the Department of Geological Sciences, the Bureau of Economic Geology and the Geology Foundation.

Jackson would often sit on an old couch in Fisher's office for chats. Once, in the mid-1980s, he hinted that he intended to donate his estate to the foundation. And in 1991, at a hotel in Dallas, Jackson pulled out a personal brokerage statement showing an account worth $106 million.

"Now you have some idea of what we are capable of doing," he told Fisher.

But for the most part, Fisher said, Jackson was modest. "His favorite place to eat was Jason's Deli," Fisher said. "He drove a Cadillac, but it was 15 years old."

In 2002, Jackson, who had no children, sent a letter to Faulkner announcing that UT would get $150 million to $200 million from his estate.

He was low-balling; after Jackson died in 2003, the bequest came in at $232 million.

Now, with royalty payments and savvy investing by the University of Texas Investment Management Co., Jackson's endowment is worth $301 million — and that's after millions were earmarked for research projects, scholarships, two new faculty chairs and a program that seeks to attract Hispanic students to the field, a particular interest of Jackson's.

The future of the endowment looks bright, too. Some of the Jackson wells in North Texas tap the Barnett shale, one of the hottest natural gas plays in North America.

Starting with staff

Among gifts to public higher education, Jackson's bequest is exceeded only by a $300 million donation to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville by the Walton family of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The largest gifts have gone to private schools: $600 million to and $400 million to Stanford University.

Unlike the other gifts, though, the Jackson donation is for a single discipline. That has created high expectations.

"We've got a national responsibility here," said Mark Cloos, a professor of geological sciences and former department chairman. "We've got to do something which everyone is going to point to and say, 'That's good.' "

The challenge is exciting and somewhat unsettling at the same time, said Jay Banner, another professor of geological sciences. "There's no guidebook on how to do this, to create a geosciences school of the first magnitude," he said.

Perhaps the most important task is to hire a dean and five to 10 professors who are members of the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Engineering or have a clear potential to be elected to the academies, according to the vision committee's report. That could require luring talent from Caltech, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and other top schools. All this will take time.

Faulkner is stepping down early next year, and his replacement — expected to be named by the end of this year — undoubtedly will weigh in on the choice of a new dean.

Fisher hopes the dean will be in place by next fall, after which faculty hiring will shift into high gear. Fisher expects that 20 to 25 tenured and tenure-track professors eventually could be added to the current roster of 34.

"It's not a question of just going out and buying folks," Fisher said. "We'll try to find people who see an opportunity here."

rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 445-3604

Jackson School of Geosciences

11th Rank according to U.S. News & World Report (tied with Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, University of California at Los Angeles and University of California at San Diego)

34 Tenured and tenure-track professors

169 Graduate students

196 Undergraduates

$367 million Endowment, including $301 million in account established by John Jackson

Sources: University of Texas, University of Texas Investment Management Co.