CMU Gets $265 Million Gift (Pittsburgh, Carnegie: schools, university, live)

[fleetiebelle]

The email that went out to campus this morning:

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

I am writing to you with a historic announcement. William S. Dietrich II, a Pittsburgh industrialist and longtime trustee of Carnegie Mellon University, has announced a plan to provide a record-breaking gift of a $265 million fund to support CMU.

This is the largest gift in the university's history and it will have real impact across CMU for years to come.

The gift furthers the university's ability to educate students in strong interdisciplinary problem-solving and supports the unique recipe for education offered by Carnegie Mellon's seven schools and colleges, all of which are leaders in their fields.

In recognition of the fund Mr. Dietrich is creating, we are also naming H&SS the Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, to honor the memory of Mr. Dietrich's mother.

Mr. Dietrich believes in the people of CMU, and in all you discover, create, invent, and give to the world.

You and all of those who came before you at CMU are the reason for this wonderful vote of confidence in the university, and for all the ongoing support from alumni and friends in our fundraising campaign, Inspire Innovation.

For more information about this historic announcement, please go to: www.cmu.edu/dietrich

Naturally, we are celebrating.

There will be a live announcement today at 11 am by the Fence, which will be streamed online at: www.cmu.edu/event/sept7/

At 2 pm, you can stop by the tent by the Fence to pick up a special commemorative gift, and at 4:30 pm, there will be a special surprise at the Student Activities Fair.

The grand finale comes at 8 pm, when the band Guster performs free on the Mall, rain or shine.

It will be a truly great day for the university.

Thank you for all you do for CMU, and please join me in celebrating this historic announcement!

Sincerely,

Jared L. Cohon, President
Carnegie Mellon University

Campus is on full "suck up to people with a hefty checkbook" mode today. There are big signs up thanking the donor and the H&SS building already has its new name up. I know it's a big deal, but it will be interesting to see how this donation trickles down to staff and students.

[irishvan]

They are Celebrating by having Guster play. First bad decision on where to put that $$

[RUSDC]

"This fund, which will become operational upon Dietrich's passing"

so its seating in a bank acct.

[MathmanMathman]

That is a lot! Hopefully the economy doesn't tank and the dollar's value sink. The strangest large gift I recall was to Penn State. Someone donated $80 million for Penn State's ice hockey program.

[ferraris]

In recognition of the fund Mr. Dietrich is creating, we are also naming H&SS the Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, to honor the memory of Mr. Dietrich's mother.

Sheesh, I thought it was kind of stupid when schools name a building after a big donor, but naming the whole college....after the donor's mother?! Did she have anything to do with CMU or H&SS at all?

Originally Posted by RUSDC

"This fund, which will become operational upon Dietrich's passing"

so its seating in a bank acct.

Is the purpose of this so that the donor can still live off of the interest and/or dividends?

[fleetiebelle]

Did she have anything to do with CMU or H&SS at all?

From everything I've read, no. It kind of grinds my gears, but apparently when you have hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around, you can name stuff after your mom. At least he didn't name it after his beloved dog.

[BrianTH]

I wonder if this will kick along their campus expansion plans.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Sheesh, I thought it was kind of stupid when schools name a building after a big donor, but naming the whole college....after the donor's mother?! Did she have anything to do with CMU or H&SS at all?

Maybe Dave Tepper will give a larger donation, tear down the building, and build a significantly better one in it's place!

[Impala26]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I wonder if this will kick along their campus expansion plans.

Our minds must be laser-locked Brian. Most of those plans first sounded a bit "puffy" to me, but now they could easily begin to become a reality

[fleetiebelle]

I know there are plans to move/expand the business school for the area of the Morewood parking lot, but I wonder if they'll use the $$ for a new Humanities building where the Holiday bar and the thrift store used to be, on the other side of the ravine from campus.