$10M Gift Promises Continued Excellence for University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business

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Sep 10, 2015, 09:00 ET

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland announced today a gift of $10 million from the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation to support MBA scholarships, undergraduate leadership programs and facility enhancements for the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The gift will also continue to fund the school's Center for Social Value Creation.

"Our business students will directly feel the impact of this generous and visionary gift," said University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh. "The Smith family is helping us create next-generation business education, greater experiential learning and wider access through scholarships."

"The many conversations about the business school that I had with my father, as well as experiences with him there, made me very aware of how important it was to him. It was natural that I would want to continue to support his legacy and carry on his commitments in the best way I could," said Michelle Smith, President of the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation. "This gift will help preserve my father's legacy in an impactful and meaningful way. I am giving this gift through the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation so that the business school can continue to provide the best possible experience for students who will carry the Smith name into the future."

"We are extremely grateful for the Smith family's continued support of the Robert H. Smith School of Business," said business school Dean Alexander Triantis. "Their generosity will help us continue to attract, challenge and engage our students."

A portion of the gift will go toward an MBA Scholarship Fund, which will help the Smith School – one of the world's premier business schools – compete for the best MBA students by providing additional financial aid.

The gift will also help advance the school's commitment to reality-based learning. Support for the Smith Undergraduate Office will enable the development of innovative programs to enhance leadership learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom experience. These will include extracurricular experiences that complement participants' academic courses.

Lastly, the gift will fund facility renovations to ensure the Smith School of Business can continue to evolve with the ever-changing business education pedagogy. Upgrades could include new, dedicated space for specific programs or classroom re-designs to allow for more group discussion and interaction.

The late Robert H. Smith earned an accounting degree in 1950 from the school that later adopted his name. In 1998 he gave $15 million, the largest gift the business school has ever received, to help the school build its capacity to deliver world-class programs. Over the years, the Smith family has gone well beyond the initial gift in continued support for the Smith School community.

About the University of Maryland
The University of Maryland is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 37,000 students, 9,000 faculty and staff, and 250 academic programs. Its faculty includes three Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, 47 members of the national academies and scores of Fulbright scholars. The institution has a $1.8 billion operating budget, secures $500 million annually in external research funding and recently completed a $1 billion fundraising campaign.

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SOURCE University of Maryland