Griffin doa US$ 3 bilhões para campus da Carnegie Mellon em Miami

Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel, has pledged a generous donation of US$ 3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, making it the largest single donation to a U.S. higher education institution in history. Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon will primarily use a portion of Griffin's contribution to establish a new campus in Miami, a city that has become a magnet for many business leaders, including Citadel, which relocated its headquarters to Florida in 2022.

According to the New York Times, the donation has been under negotiation for the past two years. The US$ 3 billion exceeds the $2 billion donated by Nike founder Phil Knight and his wife last year to Oregon Health & Science University.

Griffin and Carnegie Mellon's president, Farnam Jahanian, announced that US$ 1 billion will go towards the creation of the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science, replacing the existing school of computer science. The remaining US$ 2 billion will be used for the construction of a 35-acre campus in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, which will accommodate around 3,500 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. Construction is set to begin next year.

The university's curriculum will focus on "significant challenges," including healthcare, national security, energy, climate resilience, and industrial transformation. As stated in the New York Times, Griffin's announcement in the Times highlights the significant impact this donation will have on Carnegie Mellon's ability to make a difference for the country.

Griffin, who owns a personal fortune of over US$ 60 billion, has already distributed US$ 2.4 billion in donations, including to public colleges and the University of Miami, since relocating Citadel's headquarters to Miami.