TCS gifts $35 million to Carnegie Mellon University
In a philanthropic gesture, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) gifted $35 million (Rs.231 crores) to the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in USA. The donation will cater to building a 40,000 square-feet facility and towards scholarship funds at the Carnegie Mellon University. The new building will provide an interaction point for TCS staff and CMU faculty and students.
Carnegie Mellon University is an illustrious private research university in Pittsburg. It came about because of the merger between the Carnegie Institute of Technology (founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie) and Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in 1967. It was ranked "1st for graduate studies in computer science, 4th for graduate studies in engineering, 7th for graduate studies in fine arts" by U.S.News (2015).
Carnegie Mellon has a noteworthy 16 Nobe prize winners, 41 Emmy winners and four Oscar winners among its list of alumni.
On 7 September 2011, CMU received $265 million from retired businessman/philanthropist William S Dietrich II. It was one of the top 10 largest donations to a university or college in U.S. in history. With this donation the university's dry spell at donations ended (caused due to the recession) and the university was hopeful that others will soon follow suit.
Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan, Infosys co-founder gifted $1.8 million to Carnegie Mellon University to facilitate a research cooperation between CMU and the Centre for Brain Research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The aim of the partnership was to further two-way synergy in 'brain research and education' and in fields such as 'data sciences and engineering, human behavior and computation'.
The CMU got 3 grants amounting to $17 million to build the David A. Tepper Quadrangle and the Presidential Fellowships and Scholarships initiatives. The university said that the quad was to be its new north campus's 'centerpiece' and house the Tepper School of Business. CMU trustees Thomas Tull, James E. Rohr and his wife Sharon Rohr, and alumnus Wallace Sadauskas provided this fund.
On 11 June 2015, Carnegie Mellon University received its fifth largest donation in history from entrepreneur James Swartz. Swartz, the founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partner donated $31 million. For his generosity, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship will be created by the university, whose prime focus will be on "university-wide entrepreneurial efforts".
TCS's donation is Carnegie Mellon's largest donation by any corporate and is also the highest-ever donation the university has got from a non-American company.
