Interim President Hunter Rawlings send the following message to the Cornell community Jan. 28:

Today the Cornell University Board of Trustees approved a historic, transformative $150 million gift from Trustee Emeritus Fisk Johnson and SC Johnson to endow and name the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

This investment, the largest single gift ever made to the Ithaca campus and the second largest gift to name a U.S. business school, will greatly strengthen the College of Business’ future impact and continue the Johnson family’s multigenerational legacy of leadership and support for Cornell.

The gift will transform the College, strengthening and expanding its resources for faculty, students and programs, and giving all three of its partner schools – the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, the School of Hotel Administration, and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management – additional abilities to enhance their distinct and unique characteristics and identities. At the same time, the three schools will benefit collectively from the gift and the permanent support it provides.

The majority of the gift, $100 million, will establish a foundational endowment for the College. The remaining $50 million comes in the form of a current-use challenge grant that will leverage additional endowment support from others, bringing the total potential impact on the College’s endowment to $250 million and the total potential impact of the gift to $300 million.

In the past year since the announcement of its planned creation and over the six months since its launch, the newly named Cornell SC Johnson College of Business has made huge strides, growing its faculty, its partnerships and physical spaces in Ithaca and New York City, and its programming and degree offerings.

Fisk Johnson and SC Johnson’s generous gift reflects a confidence in the College’s mission and early accomplishments. With their involvement and support, the College has an even brighter future.

I encourage you to read more about this extraordinary gift at The Wall Street Journal and at the Cornell Chronicle.