Michigan State gets $2.5 million donation from Dallas oil executive

EAST LANSING -- Michigan State University says a Dallas oil executive and his wife are donating $2.5 million to the engineering program at the East Lansing school.

The university said Wednesday that the gift comes from Dave and Denise Lamp. It says $2 million will establish the David L. and Denise M. Lamp Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering, while $500,000 will go into a scholarship fund that the family established earlier.

Dave Lamp is a 1980 graduate of the College of Engineering and says he credits a great deal of his professional and business success to the education he got at Michigan State.

He is president and chief executive of Northern Tier Energy.