Carnegie Mellon gets $3B donation, largest in US history

A hedge-fund billionaire announced on Sept. 30 he is making a $3 billion donation to Carnegie Mellon University, describing it as the largest such gift in this history of U.S. higher education.

The money from Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin will be used to build a new Carnegie Mellon campus in Miami and support initiatives at its main Pittsburgh campus, including hiring leading academics and making the school more affordable for students, according to an announcement from the university and Griffin.

Griffin donated $2 billion to launch a new South Florida campus, and Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian said $1 billion is earmarked for the Pittsburgh campus' computer science school – which will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science – and other priorities, including financial aid.

"This is the largest single investment in higher education in the history of the United States," Griffin told Reuters. "It is the investment in excellence."

“We are deeply grateful to Ken Griffin for his extraordinary vision, partnership and belief in what Carnegie Mellon can achieve,” Jahanian said.

The university said in a news release that its Miami campus will be built in the city's Wynwood neighborhood. The location is…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/money/