Chris Allison, a 1983 Allegheny College graduate, and his wife, Jane France, have given $100,000 to Allegheny to endow an unrestricted fund supporting faculty members.

Allison announced the gift while on campus as Allegheny's entrepreneur-in-residence. Retired chairman and CEO of Tollgrade, Inc., Allison served as a guest lecturer in economics courses and spent time meeting informally with students. He also presented a seminar entitled “How My Liberal Arts Education Saved My Company.” Allison majored in English at Allegheny College and is currently president of Upsight, LLC Management Consultants in Pittsburgh.

“I believe in giving back,“ said Allison. “Allegheny gave me a great foundation. I learned how to learn and how to teach myself, and that has helped me tremendously.”

Allison and France's gift will be matched by college trustee Herb Myers, Allegheny class of 1961, as part of the Myers Endowment Challenge for faculty support and student learning.

“Allegheny College is grateful for the generosity of Chris Allison and Jane France,” said Linda DeMeritt, dean of the college. “Their desire to make an unrestricted gift means that faculty from a variety of disciplines will benefit from their support.”

Allison retired from Tollgrade in January of this year. During his tenure, Tollgrade was voted one of the best small companies in America on more than one occasion by Forbes and Fortune, as well as by Industry Week, Business 2.0 and Bloomberg Personal Finance.

Allison joined Tollgrade in 1989 shortly after its founding and was named CEO of the company in 1995 before the company’s initial public offering on the NASDAQ exchange. He replaced his father, the entrepreneur R. Craig Allison, as the company’s chairman of the board, upon the elder Allison’s untimely death in 1998. In 2000, Tollgrade’s market capitalization reached $2 billion.

In 2002, the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association awarded Chris Allison and posthumously awarded R. Craig Allison, joint Entrepreneurs of the Year. Chris Allison was named one of Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneurs of the Year earlier this year.

Next semester, Chris Allison will teach a 16-week course on entrepreneurship in Allegheny's economics department.