Carnegie Mellon University is establishing the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, which will serve as a hub for university-wide entrepreneurial activities. James R. Swartz, a 1966 alum and founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners, donated $31 million to support the school's efforts.
“As one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world, [Swartz] understands the importance of nurturing innovators and creative thinkers,” said CMU President Subra Suresh. “This gift will bring together cross-university initiatives in ways that will have a far-reaching impact on future generations of young entrepreneurs.”
According to the university, the gift includes $13 million in permanent university endowment, which in combination with other resources will support Presidential Scholarships and Fellowships for students, a faculty chair, entrepreneurs-in-residence, and an executive director and staff for the center. An additional $18 million will be directed to a number of programmatic and infrastructure projects over the next four years. This includes $10 million committed last year for the creation of space for entrepreneurship activities in the David A. Tepper Quadrangle, the university's major new academic hub. The remaining $8 million, leveraged with additional support, will fund infrastructure projects at several other locations across campus, new campus-wide curriculum development, a new fund to seed ideas across CMU's colleges and schools, and community outreach to engage local secondary schools in entrepreneurship learning opportunities.
Startup activity among CMU faculty, students and alumni has been robust, with more than 138 companies created since 2009, said the university. And with work beginning on the David A. Tepper Quadrangle, CMU is poised to create a new innovation corridor with global impact in research, invention and commercialization.
“Carnegie Mellon is one of the world's leading centers for learning and discovery,” enthused Swartz. “From its founding, entrepreneurship has been ingrained throughout the university's culture. With its strengths in technology, science and the arts, CMU is an ideal location to cultivate the ideas, technologies and solutions that will make a true difference in the world.”
Source: Carnegie Mellon University
Writer: Elise Vider