President Lori Bettison-Varga recently announced a $5.3 million pledge to Scripps College from current Scripps College Board of Trustee Nancy Katayama, Scripps class of 1977.

“Scripps College’s intellectually stimulating community is enriched by the valuable support of our trustees,” Ms. Bettison-Varga said. “Nancy embodies the best of Scripps graduates’ leadership, integrity, creativity and community engagement. She believes in making a difference and with this forward-looking pledge, Scripps students will benefit now and in the future.”

Ms. Katayama has served as a Scripps trustee since 2000 and is the president of the Nancy Katayama Foundation and held a variety of business leadership positions, including partner at Tifkat, LLP.

College officials are discussing plans for the pledge with Ms. Katayama, including her commitment of $1 million to the expansion of the college’s Bette Cree Edwards Humanities Building for faculty offices. The pledge includes immediate and estate commitments.

A second pledge, a $5.5 million gift from the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Foundation, has also been committed to Scripps College.

In 2010, the Weinberg Foundation pledged $3 million to Scripps, along with $2 million to Claremont McKenna College, to establish The Weinberg Family Dean of Science Endowment Fund for the WM Keck Science Department.

With these gifts, trustee Elizabeth “Betsy” Smith, Scripps Class of 1974, continues a legacy began by her father, the late Sidney “Jim” Weinberg, Jr., chair emeritus of the Scripps College Board of Trustees until his death in 2010. Through the support of the next generation, Ms. Smith led the effort to secure the gift from the Weinberg Foundation.

The additional $5.5 million gift came in anticipation of a significant fundraising initiative and will produce immediate and longterm benefits for the college.

Ms. Smith has served as a Scripps trustee since 1995 and currently is co-vice chair of the board. She is also a trustee of the Weinberg Foundation. Her father, Mr. Weinberg, served as Scripps College board chair from 1986 to 1991, and as a trustee from 1974 to 2010. Ms. Smith and her father have carried forward the family’s philanthropic legacy began by her grandfather, Sidney J. Weinberg, and continued by the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Foundation.

Ms. Smith works for the city of New York as an assistant commissioner in the Department of Parks and Recreation.