"To: Alumni, Parents, and Friends
From: President Robert J. Zimmer
Subject: Department of Economics Gift
Date: November 1, 2017
Today, I am pleased to announce that the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund intends to make a new $125 million gift to support the Department of Economics in expanding its leadership in education and research with wide-ranging public impact. The new gift will support new generations of faculty and students and the impact their work can have on fundamental societal challenges. This latest gift will bring Ken Griffin’s total giving in support of UChicago Economics to nearly $150 million. In recognition of his giving, including the second-largest gift in the history of UChicago, the Economics Department will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.
The new gift will help advance a number of department initiatives, including expanded resources for faculty, increased financial aid for undergraduate and graduate students, and a new research incubator named the Kenneth C. Griffin Applied Economics Research Incubator, which will focus on new strategies to strengthen the understanding and impact of economics.
It will also support scholarships for third-year and fourth-year students in economics through the University’s Odyssey Scholarship Program and provide stipends to graduate students and support for graduate research.
Griffin, who joined the University’s Board of Trustees in 2014, has supported the Economics Department and other areas of the University through past gifts. Griffin’s philanthropy includes gifts to the University to further research to improve K-12 education through the Chicago Heights Early Childhood Center, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and the University of Chicago Charter School.
With the gift, the Department of Economics joins other named programs at the University, including four schools and two other academic departments.
We are deeply grateful to the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund for its generous gift in support of impactful scholarship and education in the field of economics.
The University of Chicago. 5801 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637"