On Oct. 24, 2013, the University of Iowa (IA) announced a second $10 million gift commitment from Jerre and Mary Joy Stead of Scottsdale, Ariz., that advanced children’s medicine at the University of Iowa by creating four new faculty chairs and establishing funds to support innovation and leadership development.

The multifaceted gift from the Steads, natives of Maquoketa, Iowa, includes $8 million to endow one faculty chair within each of the UI Department of Pediatrics areas of pulmonology, nephrology, neurology, and general pediatrics.

The Steads are co-chairs of Iowa First: Our Campaign for Breakthrough Medicine—UI Health Care’s $500 million campaign for private support that launched in 2011 and will celebrate its conclusion in spring of 2014.

The $10 million gift commitment from the Steads brings the campaign total to $505 million to date, pushing Iowa First past its fundraising goal. The Steads’ previous support of Iowa First includes a gift commitment of $10 million in 2011—also to the UI Children’s Hospital and the UI Department of Pediatrics—to create endowed faculty positions, support research and staff excellence initiatives, and fund innovative support services for patients and their families.

In recognition of the Steads’ total philanthropy to UI Children’s Hospital and the UI Department of Pediatrics of $20 million, the pediatrics department will be named the University of Iowa Stead Family Department of Pediatrics.