Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Awards $6 Million in Grants to Advance Higher Education in Maricopa County

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 22, 2025--

Trustees of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust awarded a total of $6 million in unexpected grants to six of Arizona’s largest colleges and universities to advance their higher education missions in Maricopa County.

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Individual grants of $1 million were awarded to Arizona State University, Creighton University, Grand Canyon University, Maricopa Community Colleges, Northern Arizona University, and University of Arizona.

Trustees of Piper Trust met with the presidents of each institution to thank them for their leadership and present them with a higher education impact grant. These grants are intended to help fuel their respective missions through programs or projects within Maricopa County that also align with the goals and objectives of Piper Trust. The awards are otherwise unrestricted.

“The grants are an expression of Piper Trust’s ardent belief in the vital role that colleges and universities play in the health and strength of our communities and residents,” said Steve Zabilski, president and CEO of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. “Beyond their influence on the lives of students, our higher education institutions drive economic growth and workforce development, produce breakthroughs in research and technological innovation, and enhance civic and cultural life.”

Presence in Maricopa County

Each of the recipient institutions has an established educational presence in Maricopa County, including several initiatives focused on healthcare and workforce development.

Arizona State University has been named the most innovative public research university in the United States for the past 10 years. With multiple campuses throughout Maricopa County, and with a global presence, ASU awarded more than 37,000 college degrees in 2024 and is a key economic engine for the state.

Creighton University School of Medicine ’s state-of-the-art Phoenix health sciences campus is home to nearly 1,000 students and is focused on addressing the urgent need for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

Grand Canyon University graduated more than 31,000 students in 2025, its 75 th Anniversary year, through its Phoenix campus and online programs, more than half with degrees in fields with significant workforce shortages, including teaching, nursing, and social work/counseling/behavioral health.

Maricopa Community Colleges is the largest community college system in the nation, serving more than 140,000 students annually across 10 individually accredited colleges. As Arizona’s largest workforce developer, the system offers more than 600 degree and certificate programs in high-demand career fields, including bachelor’s degrees.

Northern Arizona University offers innovative, workforce-aligned degree programs across Maricopa County, with distinctive strengths in nursing, health professions, behavioral health, and teacher preparation—fields essential to Arizona’s continued prosperity. Through close partnerships with the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges, students can complete most of their coursework where they live and finish their degree at NAU, seamlessly transferring credits, avoiding relocation, and graduating ready for in-demand careers.

University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix graduates about 130 physicians annually and conducts millions of dollars in medical and bioscience research. U of A’s College of Nursing graduates hundreds in Gilbert in two innovative programs: the nation’s first BSN in Integrative Health, and the accelerated Master of Science for Entry to the Profession of Nursing (MEPN).

Past Support for Higher Education Initiatives

As higher education is one of our state’s highest priorities, Piper Trust was compelled to recognize these institutions and the visionaries, leaders, and students who continually strive to propel Arizona forward. The Trust has supported institutions of higher education since its inception, including:

“Investing in the promise of people, discovery, and innovation was key to Virginia Piper’s philanthropy. She recognized the vital, long-game role that higher education institutions play, as Piper Trust does today,” said Zabilski.

About Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust

Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supports organizations that enrich health, well-being, and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County, Arizona. Since it began awarding grants in 2000, Piper Trust has invested more than $758 million in local nonprofits and programs. Piper Trust grantmaking areas are healthcare and medical research, children, older adults, arts and culture, education, and religious organizations. For more information, visit pipertrust.org | X | Facebook | LinkedIn.

Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Awards $6 Million to Advance Higher Education in Maricopa County, Arizona

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.

The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants,

The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

“Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities, and this would deliver much-needed, long-term relief to the mid-Atlantic region," said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to be at the White House, a person familiar with Shapiro’s plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Shapiro, a Democrat, made his participation in Friday’s event contingent on including a provision to extend a limit on wholesale electricity price increases for the region’s consumers, the person said.

But the operator of the grid won't be there. “PJM was not invited. Therefore we would not attend,” said spokesperson Jeff Shields.

It was not immediately clear whether President Donald Trump would attend the event, which was not listed on his public schedule.

Trump and the governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills.

Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not.

However, they also say that the billions of dollars that consumers are paying isn’t resulting in the construction of new power plants necessary to meet the rising demand.

Pivotal contests in November will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill for the data centers that underpin the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence. In parts of the country, data centers are coming online faster than power plants can be built and connected to the grid.

Electricity costs were a key issue in last year's elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission. Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

Gas and electric utilities sought or won rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period a year earlier.

Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is seen Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, East of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)