Pennsylvania Sate University’s food science department received a $1 million dollar anonymous donation in honor of a professor emeritus in the department, announced the university Tuesday. The large gift was designated in honor of former Penn State food science professor Philip Keeney, who became famous at the school in 1955 for teaching the Penn State “Ice Cream Short Course,” a crash course in ice cream making that attracted ice cream professionals from around the country. Keeney taught the course until his retirement in 1985. Keeney was also head of the Department of Food Science from 1980 – 1985. The donation will be used to establish an excellence fund, named after Keeney, for the food science department head. The department head will use the funds to support food science research, extension programs and teaching. In addition to pursuing the design of delicious foods, as Keeney did, the food science department at Penn State also focuses on dairy safety, innovations to promote global food security, research into a genetic component of alcoholism, research on how microbes inhabit biofilms in meat, and myriad other food science initiatives.