Advertisement

Foreign Donors Swell Harvard's Coffers

While KSG received gifts in the campaign from about 900 international donors, most of these came from alumni, representing 72 countries.

Private citizens are an important source of funding--even the KSG professorships named after the Sultan of Oman and the late King Hussein of Jordan were partially funded by private donations.

According to the Office of Sponsored Research, the University has received about $5.8 million in sponsored research funding from foreign governments since June 30, 1998.

Much of the money comes from three major grants. One is from an Indonesian bank; one is from the national university of Singapore and one is from a provincial government of India. All three are for academic work on public policy, and fall in the $1-2 million range.

A recent gift of $2.5 in endowment funds from His Highness The Aga Khan '58 will fund The Aga Khan Professorship of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism in Islamic Societies at the Graduate School of Design.

Advertisement

The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims, also gave $1.5 million in 1979 to establish the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the GSD. In 1987, he contributed to funding for GSD's Center for Urban Development Studies at the Harvard Design School.

Head East, Young Man

During his time at Harvard, Rudenstine has twice gone to Asia. Recently, Chinese university presidents congregated at Harvard to meet with U.S. university presidents. University Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 has also trekked to the Eastern Hemisphere.

"It's raising Harvard's banner in the region," says Paul T. Keenan '85, director of East Asia Operations for the UDO.

"Harvard has a tremendous reputation in Asia," Keenan adds. "It's not unusual for people to become excited...They often will throw a dinner on behalf of the president and welcome him to the country."

The current capital campaign drew significant amounts of money from Asian sources, Keenan says.

One focus has of this solicitation been the Asia Center, a University-wide program housed in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences "intended to try to integrate all the programs around the University," Keenan says.

The center serves as a common facility for Harvard experts on Asia as well as members of the Asian business, political and intellectual communities.

"The knowledge on China at the Fairbank Center might help the Business School write reports on Chinese business," Keenan says. "The sum can be greater than the individual parts."

The center needs $30 million, of which $11 million has already been raised.

Keenan points to Minoru Makihara '54, the head of Mitsubishi Corp., as a pivotal figure in Harvard's Asian fundraising.

Recommended Articles

Advertisement