A new library building for his home town of Preston, Idaho. Reduced medical expenses for a critically ill baby. Scholarships for the children of soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq.

David Sant has been even more generous with his alma mater. "I wanted to give back to the community. I can think of no better way of doing that than supporting the institutions that equipped me for my career," he explains.

Sant has donated more than $500,000 to scholarships in engineering and more than $2.5 million to the engineering building project. The new teaching facility, which opened in fall 2003, has its interior infrastructure exposed as a teaching tool, and the classrooms are technology-enhanced for interactive learning. Eventually the lab wing of the old building will be replaced with an up-to-date research facility.

Sant says he wants students to have as many opportunities as he did with his degrees in electrical engineering. He went on to complete his MBA at Santa Clara University and to enjoy a lucrative career in sales and marketing in the telecommunications and computer industries.

In April 2004, Sant was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma. Six of eight sessions into a grueling chemotherapy regimen, his doctors discovered a cancerous tumor at the base of his spine.

Not long after his diagnosis, Sant emailed Rush Limbaugh, spokesman for the Lymphoma Society, and challenged him to match his $1 million donation to the society.

Sant issued an even bigger challenge to his fellow alumni. He has already matched the first $1 million in donations to the engineering building and will match the next $500,000 when that target is reached. more