September 27, 2002
Contact: Jim Aisner
Harvard Business School
(617) 495-6157
Harvard Business School Launches $500 Million Capital Campaign
BOSTON -- Harvard Business School (HBS) formally launched on Saturday (Sept. 21) the first capital campaign in its 94-year history with a day-long program of events attended by several hundred alumni and guests, including Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers.
The most ambitious fundraising effort ever undertaken by HBS, The Campaign for Harvard Business School aims to raise a total of $500 million by the end of 2005 to support initiatives in student financial aid, global research, faculty development, and technology. The campaign will also fund a renewal of the HBS campus, including the first major renovation of historic Baker Library and several student residences. Led by campaign chair C. D. (Dick) Spangler, Jr., a member of the MBA Class of 1956, the campaign raised a nucleus fund of nearly half the goal prior to the public launch.
Commenting on the reasons for the campaign, Dean Kim B. Clark noted, “We stand at an inflection point in history when the demands placed on business and business leaders have never been greater or more complex. This changing world calls for new skills in our graduates and a new standard of leadership in education from Harvard Business School. The campaign will allow us to make essential investments that are critical to this kind of education."
"What Harvard Business School does in the next twenty years will be more important than what it has done in any twenty-year period in its history,” President Summers remarked at the campaign dinner Saturday night. "There has simply never been a greater need for the kind of knowledge and leaders Harvard Business School creates."
Continuing the School’s need-blind admissions policy, the campaign will raise $100 million for fellowships, substantially increasing resources for student financial aid. These funds will keep HBS accessible to the broadest possible range of talented students, enhance admissions efforts, and allow graduating students to make career choices less influenced by debt constraints. More than 70 countries are now represented in the MBA Program. In recent years, the School has increased its efforts to reach a broader set of applicants from new regions and universities around the globe, as well as attract students from the nonprofit sector or those with demonstrated leadership potential but less work experience.
The campaign has targeted $100 million for faculty initiatives, including funds for a Teaching and Learning Center and new endowed chairs at the tenured and junior faculty levels. Harvard Business School’s faculty is noted for its extraordinary teaching skill and strong ties to business practice. The renowned HBS case method of instruction, the core of the School’s practice-based approach to teaching, requires considerable training and mentorship for new faculty. The campaign will help build and develop the next generation of HBS professors and support the current faculty’s teaching and research at the highest level possible.
The campaign will also raise $100 million for the faculty’s work in international research and course development. This work is facilitated by the School’s Global Initiative, which includes regional research centers and offices in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and Silicon Valley that enable HBS faculty to build deeper connections with business leaders and academic institutions worldwide.
Over the past seven years, HBS has made significant investments to build a technology infrastructure and platform for learning that touches virtually every aspect of the campus and curriculum. The campaign will raise $120 million to fund continuing investments to deepen the learning experience through technology, including video and multimedia cases, online simulations, and fiber-optic transmissions. In 2002, HBS opened Hawes Hall, the first classroom building constructed at the School since 1953, which enables the use of advanced technologies in learning. The facility was made possible by a generous campaign gift from Rodney A. Hawes, Jr. (MBA ’69), his wife, Beverly, and their family.
The campaign also includes investments in campus facilities, among them the Spangler Center, a campus center that opened in 2001. It is named in honor of C.D. Spangler, Jr. (MBA ’56), his wife, Meredith, and their family, who generously donated funds for the facility. A new faculty academic center will be part of the Baker Library renovation.
The Harvard Business School endowment is currently valued at approximately $1.3 billion. Distributions from the endowment contribute approximately 17 percent of the School’s $300 million annual operating budget and support programs specifically designated by donors of these restricted funds. Currently, 93 percent of the HBS endowment is restricted. The campaign will provide resources for new initiatives of the School not supported by the current endowment.