Recently, the College of Business of Cornell University received a tremendously large donation: a gift of 150 million dollars by H. Fisk Johnson.
The amount of this donation is, hands down, one of the largest that were ever given, if we leave out a 300-million donation of 2008 by David Booth and 200 million by Stephen Ross in 2013.
The Giver’s Ties to Cornell
H. Fisk Johnson, 59, is not only the Chief Executive Officer, but also a chairman of the Johnson & Son company. He has several degrees from the beneficiary, the Cornell school, starting with an 1984 MBA. In Fisk Johnson’s opinion, Cornell is like family, as the Johnsons have been dealing with it for as long as a stunning one hundred and twenty years – a good long time, no doubt about that. It’s for this reason, actually, that such a large gift was sent to this university, to help it grow and develop further.
What the Dean Thinks About It
The college’s dean, Soumitra Dutta, has done plenty of work for the university throughout the five years while he has been occupying this position; for instance, he managed to raise quite a considerable amount of funds for a new building, changing the curriculum of the college’s Master of Business Administration program, opening a new tech MBA program and finding new teachers.
Nevertheless, the $150 million were much needed for the school. The dean revealed that this money will help to build a brand new campus in New York City and extend the teaching staff from 6 to 18. Thus, more full-time MBAs will be given an opportunity to study in the newly-built New York campus for half a year.
According to the word of the school representatives, two thirds of the enormous donation will go to amending the process of faculty recruitment both in New York and on the main university campus in Ithaca. Also, these funds will help to increase the school’s competitiveness by giving out new scholarships for brilliant but poor students and expanding the opportunities for research.
The money gift couldn’t have arrived sooner - Cornell’s College of Business was far behind in terms of endowment: 22 other schools managed to best it last year. Still, the one hundred and fifty million is small fry compared to the funds received by America’s best business schools, like Harvard, Yale and Columbia.
The other third of the money – $50 million – is expected to find its use in the support of philanthropy. It will surely enable the university to double the initial money gift and make it $300 million.
According to the dean, the funds will help Cornell bring out its uniqueness and strong points, as well as hire more talented people to teach students and attract more prospective MBAs. The gift was celebrated on the 31st of January in one of Cornell university’s auditoriums. The giver himself, Fisk Johnson, attended the ceremony, which was shown live on Cornell’s own media.
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