Cornell to rename business school following $150 million donation

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University is renaming its business school the Cornell S.C. Johnson College of Business following a donation of $150 million.

Racine, Wisconsin–based S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and alumnus H. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of S.C. Johnson and a Cornell trustee emeritus, made the donation, Cornell said in a news release.

S.C. Johnson is a company that manufactures household products for cleaning, home fragrance, pest control, storage, shoe care, and auto care, according to its website.

The funding represents the “largest single gift to Cornell’s Ithaca campus and the second largest gift to name a U.S. business school,” the school added.

Cornell’s College of Business includes the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, the School of Hotel Administration, and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

The renaming is “in recognition of this historic gift and the Johnson family’s extraordinary, multigenerational legacy of leadership and philanthropy to Cornell,” the school proclaimed.

“Cornell University has been a part of my family for more than 120 years,” Fisk Johnson, said in the news release. “I hope this gift will serve as a significant catalyst to help grow the reach and impact of Cornell’s College of Business. The goal is to strengthen the College of Business overall, while enhancing its three individual schools and the qualities that make each exceptional.”

Funding uses

Cornell will use two-thirds of the gift, or $100 million, to create a permanent endowment. In the near-term, the endowment will provide “flexibility” for faculty recruitment and retention in Ithaca and New York City, increase the college’s “competitiveness” for top students through expanded scholarship resources, and “develop and expand” programs in and outside of Ithaca, the university said.

The funding will enable new research initiatives in areas that “leverage and enhance” the College of Business and Cornell’s research “strengths,” particularly in the areas of sustainability and technology, the university said.

Cornell will use the remaining $50 million as a current-use challenge grant to leverage philanthropic support from others on a 1:3 basis.

It will allow the college to raise an additional $150 million in endowment and bring the total “potential” impact of the gift to $300 million.

The challenge will have a special focus on faculty and student support, while also promoting “innovative” programs.

Endowment gifts for the college’s three schools “or the college broadly” will be eligible for the challenge, Cornell said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com