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The University received a $10 million gift from Leonard Lauder last week that is earmarked for the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies. President Judith Rodin announced the donation from the president and Chief Executive Officer of Estee Lauder Companies Inc. on June 27 during the annual trustee meetings. The Lauder Institute is an innovative joint MBA/MA degree program in management and international studies established in 1983 between Wharton and the School of Arts and Sciences. The gift will enable the Institute -- which is currently the only dual MBA/MA degree program in management and international studies at a major business school -- to set new standards in global manage ment education by further developing international studies, foreign language and cross-cultural aspects of the curriculum. The Institute was founded by Leonard Lauder -- a 1954 Wharton graduate, Ronald Lauder -- a 1965 Wharton graduate, and Estee Lauder, with an initial gift of $10 million in honor of their father, Joseph Lauder, co-founder of the New York-based Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. The total gift of $20 million makes it the largest endowment of any international management program of its kind in the world. "As leaders of one of the largest global consumer products organization, our family remains deeply committed to international management education," Leonard Lauder said. "Over the past 13 years, we have watched the Lauder Institute grow and mature as the leading program of its kind in the world." Lauder hopes his contribution will ensure the University's leadership in the future of the field. The mission of the Institute is to educate the global business leaders of the 21st century by providing a superior international management education. It enrolls 60 students each year and, since its first graduating class in 1984, has more than 500 graduates working in 60 countries around the world. In the international studies area, the new endowment will provide a sequence of new courses -- specifically designed for students of professional degree programs. The gift will also provide for faculty development programs in conjunction with the new classes. In the language and cross-cultural studies area, the Lauder gift will fund new high-level language programs as well as development of new teaching media. In addition, the money will provide for endowment of the Director's position at the Lauder Institute. "The entire Penn community is grateful to Leonard Lauder for this unprecedented commitment to education in management and international studies," said President Judith Rodin. "This new endowment directly supports Penn's Agenda for Excellence and our strategic goal of significantly increasing Penn's role as a global institution." Rodin added that Lauder's generosity will ensure that Penn's students will continue to receive the "finest education." The University's Agenda for Excellence is a strategic plan that proposes a series of critical priorities and objectives for Penn over the next five years. "It is extremely important to us that Penn remain at the forefront of global education," Lauder said. "We are pleased that we are able to support President Rodin's Agenda for Excellence in this way." School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rosemary Stevens described the Lauder Institute as a gem and said that the new gift will ensure that it "will shine more brightly in the future."

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