Lisa and Mike Ullmann say they developed a “huge appreciation for MIT athletics” when their daughter Lauren ’17 captained the women’s soccer team. So they made a gift that will name the weight room in MIT’s updated Sports Performance Center and funded a matching challenge that sparked donations to the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation during a recent fund drive. “The friendships Lauren made and the leadership skills she learned were critical,” Mike says. “We know students who were on the football and wrestling teams and the other women’s sports teams. They all feel that the MIT athletic experience was so valuable to them.”

Sparking innovation: The Ullmanns’ support for MIT extends beyond athletics. Their gift to the Sandbox program, which provides seed funds and mentoring to student entrepreneurs, was inspired by their other daughter, Emily, MBA ’19, a Sandbox recipient while at the Sloan School of Management. And Mike’s interest in health care as a retired executive VP and general counsel at Johnson & Johnson led them to contribute to the Convergence Scholars Program in the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

The greatest gift: Lisa, a coordinator with the United States Tennis Association’s Junior Team Tennis program, stays engaged with MIT through the Corporation Development Committee, the Corporation Visiting Committee for Student Life, and the Parent Leadership Circle Board. “Time, to me, is the biggest thing to give,” she says, “and time is the thing that everybody can give.”

Help MIT build a better world. For more information, contact Liz Vena: 617.324.9228; evena@mit.edu. Or visit http://giving.mit.edu.