SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen has announced he is giving $40 million to the University of Washington's computer-science department.

The Seattle Times reports the Seattle billionaire made the announcement Thursday. Microsoft is giving another $10 million in Allen's honor.

In response, the UW Board of Regents on Thursday raised the computer-science department to the status of a school, and named it the Paul G. Allen School for Computer Science & Engineering.

Allen told the newspaper the money would give the university "more resources, and scope, and ability to grow and keep up its climb to the top ranks of computer science" among the nation's universities.

UW President Ana Mari Cauce said the donation "is tremendous generosity — but also, his name carries weight" in the computer science world.

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