Cornell MBAs Net Huge Gift to Launch Sustainable Enterprises Source GreenBiz.com

URL: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=26122

ITHACA, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2003 - A $5 million gift from Samuel C. Johnson will give global environmental sustainability issues more prominence in MBA studies at Cornell University.

The gift is the latest among many given to Cornell by Johnson, chairman emeritus of S.C. Johnson and Son of Racine, Wis., and a Cornell alumnus. His $20 million gift to the Johnson School in 1984, made with his family and company, is the foundation of the school's current endowment. Johnson earned his A.B. degree at Cornell in 1950.

The gift will support efforts already under way at the Johnson School, in particular the establishment of the S.C. Johnson Professorship in Sustainable Global Enterprise through an earlier gift from Johnson and the hiring of Stuart Hart last July to fill that chair. The professorship's role, Johnson stipulated, is to enhance students' understanding of global sustainability and prepare them to be leaders of ethical, equitable and economically and environmentally sustainable enterprises.

The newest gift reflects Johnson's longstanding interest in the environment. Forbes magazine named him corporate America's leading environmentalist in 1993. As chairman and CEO of S.C. Johnson and Son, he directed the company to set periodic goals for reducing pollution and waste in its products and processes in the 1990s and to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons from its aerosol products worldwide in 1975, three years before the U.S. mandate to do so. Such efforts earned the company the World Environment Center Gold Medal for International Corporate Environmental Achievement in 1994.

"Sam's generosity to the Johnson School is seconded only by his deep commitment to global environmental sustainability," said Robert Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Johnson School. Johnson shared news of the gift privately with members of the school's advisory council during their annual meeting on campus (Johnson is chair of the council). "They were overwhelmed," said Swieringa. "The gift will have great impact and significance. When our graduates go on to positions of leadership and influence, they will carry with them a real awareness of how the challenge of global sustainability changes the competitive landscape for enterprises as well as the critical thinking skills and long-range view they'll need to make the best strategic decisions."

"I want to ensure the long-term success of this newly established chair," said Sam Johnson. "I believe it has the potential to be a defining center of excellence for the Johnson School."

This fall, the school was named one of the top 15 business programs offering students solid training in environmental-management and social-impact issues by the Aspen Institute and the World Resources Institute. Among the initiatives they praised were the establishment of the Johnson Professorship in Sustainable Global Enterprise. Also singled out for recognition was a symposium at the school this September, "The Business Case for Sustainable Enterprise," sponsored by two active student groups -- the Community Impact Club and the Energy Club.

Hart, who was named a Faculty Pioneer by the World Resources Institute in 1999 for his work in integrating environmental and social issues into management education, said: "Sam Johnson's commitment will bring energy and resources that will allow us to build significantly on what we've begun doing and create a program that's world class. The next few years will be exciting times for us."