Alum donates $20 million for financial aid, tech hub

In one of the largest financial gifts of the past decade, University Trustee George Weiss announced yesterday that he will donate $20 million to bolster financial aid funding and create a campus technology hub. The money also will establish an endowed professorship and will benefit Penn's athletic department in some capacity. "[This is] a gift that has reached out and recognized the real needs of the University," University President Judith Rodin said during yesterday's official announcement. "It couldn't have come at a better moment." Close to $6 million of the total gift is designated for financial aid, with $5 million of that set aside for the Weiss Challenge Fund for Undergraduate Financial Aid. The fund will provide one dollar for every two dollars another University donor gives. The donation arrives at a time when financial aid has become a hot topic around the Ivy League. Last Friday, the Board of Trustees at Princeton University voted to abolish undergraduate loans and replace them entirely with grants and scholarships. And Yale University recently announced a large increase in financial aid packages for graduate students. While Penn's endowment is one of the largest in the country -- roughly $3.2 billion -- it is among the lowest on a per student basis, causing the University to lag behind many of its peers with respect to financial aid. Weiss, a Wharton alumnus, said that his gift was not in response to recent events around the Ancient Eight. "I don't think donations are about timing," he said. "You see a need and when you have the ability to meet those needs, you do it." "The whole gift is about upping the ante," said Weiss, the chairman of the University's Undergraduate Financial Aid Committee. "It's a travesty that there's any student who, minorities included, wants to go to Penn and can't afford it." The technology center, which will be named the Weiss Tech House and will be open to students in all of four of Penn's undergraduate schools, will be comparable to the Kelly Writers' House -- but with a focus on technology. The location of the center has not yet been determined. "It's really a focal point for students interested in innovative technologies of any kind," Provost Robert Barchi said. Barchi stressed that although the center will be linked to business programs, it will not belong to any one department. The Athletic Department's allocation was not announced. The specifics of the endowed professorship were also unspecified. The ceremony was held in the President's office, with Trustees and University administrators standing by as Rodin announced the donation. Rodin thanked Weiss, saying "[you're] taking a leadership role, which you've always taken, but you're taking it to new heights." "The generosity is matched by the intelligence of the decision-making and the number of areas that you will touch," she added. But the donor played down his role as benefactor, quoting another legendary Penn Trustee and donor, Walter Annenberg. "It's simply a matter of good citizenship," he said. Last January, College alumnus Christopher Browne donated $10 million to the College of Arts and Sciences to endow five professorships. And in October 1999, Wharton alumnus Jay Baker donated $11 million for undergraduate financial aid and the construction of a lecture hall in Huntsman Hall. The Say Yes to Education foundation, which Weiss created over a decade ago, works to finance vocational training and educational opportunities for inner-city students. Weiss is also the president of his own money management firm, George Weiss Associates, Inc. The gift is one of many that he has given on behalf of Say Yes to Education since the foundation's inception in 1987. Over the past 25 years, Weiss has donated almost $40 million to Penn. His contributions have endowed two professorships, created the Weiss Center for International Financial Research at the Wharton School and financed numerous undergraduate scholarships for minority students. In the past, Penn's athletic department has also received large donations from Weiss. "Penn has afforded me the abilities and the background to attain success," he said. In 1987, Weiss promised a sixth grade class at Belmont Elementary School in Philadelphia that he would send each student to any college of their choice for free. About half of the 112 students took him up on his offer. "It's a way to send a message out to the world why Penn is special," Weiss said. "A student coming out of Penn is like two or three years ahead of the other Ivy League institutions."

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