The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will establish the Siebel School of Computing and ... [+]
The University of Illinois and Haverford College have announced receiving historic gifts of $50 million and $25 million, respectively, from their alumni. The gifts will be used to launch new academic units at each school.
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will establish the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, made possible by a $50 million gift from alumnus Thomas M. Siebel.
The new school will be housed in the Grainger College of Engineering, strengthening the university’a already strong reputation in computing and engineering.
“At Illinois, the power of interdisciplinary and collaborative work is on full display in the way we approach research activity and educational delivery for computing and data science,” said Chancellor Robert J. Jones, in a news release. “The establishment of the Siebel School of Computing & Data Science through this generous gift from Mr. Siebel will enable us to continue shaping the future of technology and preparing students for success in a digital world.”
Thomas M. Siebel earned his BA (history), MBA and MS (computer science) from the University of Illinois. Formerly with Oracle, he built the software firm Siebel Systems and sold it to Oracle in 2006 for $5.8 billion in cash and stock. He is the CEO of C3 AI, an enterprise AI platform and applications company he created in 2009. Forbes lists Siebel’s net worth at $3.7 billion. In 2006, the University of Illinois awarded him an honorary doctorate of engineering.
Among other philanthropic endeavors, Siebel founded the Siebel Scholars program in 2000 to support students at the world’s leading graduate schools of business, computer science, bioengineering, and energy science.
Commenting on his newest gift to the University of Illinois, Siebel said, “we are thrilled to partner with the University of Illinois to establish the Siebel School of Computing & Data Science. By supporting cutting-edge research and fostering innovation, we hope to empower future generations of leaders in technology and society, driving positive change in our world.”
Haverford College
At Haverford, a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, Michael B. Kim, a 1985 alum, has given the college $25 million to establish and support the Institute for Ethical Inquiry and Leadership. The donation is tied for the largest gift in Haverford’s history.
According to an announcement from Haverford, the “Institute will offer an innovative residential liberal arts experience centered on ethics in action.” It will emphasize “a cross-disciplinary and practice-based approach that understands ethical impact and global engagement as crucial to the work of the liberal arts.”
Kim’s gift will be used to fund:
- A new ethical inquiry and leadership sequence in the curriculum;
- Endowed professorships across the liberal arts to participate in the Ethical Inquiry and Leadership Institute;
- Endowed staffing and program support to engage community partners in year-round opportunities;
- A new building that will have communal spaces for teaching, meeting, research, and other projects.
“This transformative gift and the Institute it will create clearly articulate Haverford’s enduring commitment to an ethically centered liberal arts education," said Haverford President Wendy Raymond, in the college’s news release. "Through the institute, our students will be provided with rigorous, interdisciplinary opportunities as they prepare for lives of integrity, ambition, and purpose. I am extraordinarily grateful for Michael’s incredible leadership and support of the College.”
Michael Kim graduated from Haverford in 1985 with a degree in English. Following that, he earned his MBA from Harvard University. Kim is the founder and chairman of MBK Partners, a private equity firm in Seoul, South Korea. Forbes pegs his net worth at $9.7 billion. Kim is slated to become chair of Haverford’s Board of Managers on July 1.
“Ethical inquiry is at the core of a Haverford education, and leadership without ethics is a body without a soul,” Kim said. “The new Institute, with its interdisciplinary approach and international engagement, will pioneer the way we think about ethics and practice ethics-based leadership in the global community.”
