Carnegie Mellon, Kushagra Nayan Bajaj Announce $2.5 Million Gift To Endow Chair at Tepper School of Business

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Jun 28, 2011, 10:52 ET

PITTSBURGH, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University announced today that Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, vice chairman, Bajaj Group in Mumbai, India, has made a $2.5 million gift to endow a professorship in the university's Tepper School of Business.

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The gift will be used to endow the Bajaj Family Chair, which will be held by a Tepper School of Business professor to be named by the university's president and provost. The gift will support teaching and research in a field selected by the chair recipient.

Kushagra graduated from CMU in 1997 with a degree in economics, political philosophy and finance from the Tepper School of Business. He is providing the gift through his family foundation, the Kamalnayan Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation.

"I am proud to strengthen my association with Carnegie Mellon University and this endowment is a gesture of appreciation for my alma mater. I wish the university the very best with its Inspire Innovation campaign," Kushagra said.

The gift continues Carnegie Mellon's important connections to India. More than 30 percent of Carnegie Mellon students are from outside the U.S., and the majority of those students are from India. In addition, the largest concentration of CMU alumni outside of the U.S. lives in India.

"On behalf of Carnegie Mellon, I thank Kushagra Bajaj and his family for this wonderful gift," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon. "Through his generosity, Kushagra is further strengthening the connection between Carnegie Mellon and India. Many of our faculty and students hail from India, and the country is home to many of our alumni. Kushagra is truly a global business leader, and we are pleased to partner with him through this professorship."

About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, titled "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.

About the Bajaj Group: The Bajaj Group (www.bajajgroup.org) is amongst India's top 10 business conglomerates. It has interests in a diverse range of sectors from power generation, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), coal mining, sugar manufacturing, ethanol production and real estate. The total group revenues exceed US $1 billion with a gross market cap of over US $1.5 billion. The group currently employs around 15,000 people across India.

SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University