Phillips 66 donated $500,000 to the University to support programs within the Cockrell School of Engineering, McCombs School of Business and College of Natural Sciences, the University announced Friday.

A large portion of the gift, which will be split between the three schools, will help fund the Phillips 66 SHIELD Scholar program, which provides a number of resources, including scholarships, professional development and community service opportunities, for students pursuing careers in the energy industry.

According to Donnell Roy, corporate and foundation relations director at McCombs, the business school received $156,000. Roy said Phillips 66, which is an energy and manufacturing company, has been involved in many key programs within the school, and the two help each other succeed in different ways.

“It’s very symbiotic — these relationships with these companies are definitely two-way streets,” Roy said. “They also support programs such as information management that is strategic to building a talented pipeline of students that can be potentially recruited into Phillips 66.”

Phillips 66 works with different methods of refining gasoline and oil and has approximately 13,500 employees. Rex Bennett, Phillips 66 president of specialties and business development, said the company is constantly looking for new, young employees.

“Phillips 66 is always looking for new voices with unique thoughts and different perspectives to help our company succeed,” Bennett said. “We’ve built a strong pipeline at the University of Texas that will enable us to recruit those who will help us all prosper — both now and in the future.”

According to Kelsey Evans, College of Natural Sciences spokeswoman, Phillips 66 donated between $5,000 and $10,000 to the computer science department. Evans said the University and Phillips 66 have developed a connection over the years as the company has become more involved with different schools within the University.

“Since Phillips 66 split off from ConocoPhillips and became a separate company [in 2012], they’ve done a remarkable job investing in our students and in building a relationship with UT-Austin,” Evans said.

Evans said, while these companies do recruit students through these programs, they also donate to the University for more generous reasons.

“Across the board, all the companies that support UT … do it because they’re philanthropic,” Evans said.