The Park Foundation has renewed its support of the Park Leadership Fellows Program at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management with a gift of nearly $7.5 million that extends support of the program through the Class of 2004.

The Park fellowships, named for the late media entrepreneur Roy H. Park, offer full tuition and stipend support to 60 top Johnson School MBA students each year. Linking full scholarship support with an enhanced MBA leadership development experience, it is the only program of its kind in the country.

Thirty Park fellows are selected each year from the MBA applicant pool for their exceptional leadership skills, stellar academic achievements, strong professional accomplishments, well-defined career goals and firm commitment to community service and social responsibility. They participate in the Johnson School's "Leadership in Management" curriculum and must complete a leadership service project that contributes to permanent change in the Johnson School, at Cornell or in the broader community.

The program was inaugurated in 1997 with a $5.9 million gift from the Park Foundation. The first group of Park fellows graduated in May.

"I am delighted by the Park Foundation's vote of confidence in the direction and development of the Park Leadership Fellows Program, the Johnson School and Cornell," said Robert J. Swieringa, dean of the Johnson School. "The Park Foundation's generous support has already benefited not only the Johnson School and surrounding community, but the lives of the Park Leadership Fellows and those whom they will serve as future business leaders. I expect that 25 years from now, you will find Park fellows highly represented among the country's most influential leaders."

Park fellows, who must be U.S. citizens, already have initiated or completed a wide range of significant service projects:

• Working with the mayor's office, Park fellows are conducting the Ithaca Commons Project, a study of communities across the country that have successfully addressed the problems of sustaining a vibrant downtown area.
• The creation of the Small Business Council, intended to provide strategic management consulting services to small businesses worldwide. It already has assisted several Cornell and regional start-ups.
• The creation of the Small Business Council, intended to provide strategic management consulting services to small businesses worldwide. It already has assisted several Cornell and regional start-ups.
• Under the sponsorship of the Tompkins County Area Development Corp., Park fellows are exploring the possibilities for expanding and improving airline service to the community.
• Working with the Chamber of Commerce Community Partnership Committee, Park fellows are helping to design, develop and deliver quantitative methods to assist non-profit organizations to measure their achievements in ways that will enhance their competitiveness for future funding.
• Working with executives from a local start-up company, Park fellows developed a "go-to-market" strategy for a new product that has to compete with well-established existing technologies.
• Local service organizations, such as the Women's Community Building, SPCA, Catholic Charities and Ithaca Housing Authority, have received strategic consulting services to support their long-term financial viability and visibility as well as to complete strategic planning initiatives, develop program improvements, enhance operational efficiency and leverage resources.

Cornell's Johnson School is a leading management school offering its MBA students access to one of the most extensive leadership development programs available. In addition to the service leadership projects, the Johnson School's leadership development program includes a rigorous curriculum emphasizing theory and practice, practical training seminars with top leadership experts and access to senior executives and global leaders who meet with students to explore the most important social, strategic and ethical questions facing business leaders today. The school is launching a Center for Leadership in Dynamic Organizations.

The Ithaca-based Park Foundation was established by the family of Roy Hampton Park. Park (1910-1993) was the founder and chairman of Park Communications Inc., a media company consisting of newspapers, radio and television stations. His son, Roy Park Jr., received an MBA from the Johnson School in 1963. He is a member of the Johnson School Advisory Council and the Cornell University Board of Trustees.