Weills endow Ford School deanship

Updated 10:00 AM June 26, 2006

Weills endow Ford School deanship

By Nancy Connell
News Service

Joan and Sanford Weill have endowed the deanship at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with a gift of $3 million.

The gift will establish a discretionary fund that Ford School deans will draw on to support the school's highest priorities. In recognition of the donation Dean Rebecca Blank and her successors will carry the title, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy. The Board of Regents approved the deanship at the June 16 meeting.

"I am delighted to receive this honor, both for the Ford School and for myself," Blank says. "The Weills have been extremely generous to the school, first with their support of our new building and now endowing the deanship. The school will benefit from these gifts for years to come and I deeply appreciate the generosity behind them."

The Weills previously donated $5 million toward the construction of the new home for the Ford School—Joan and Sanford Weill Hall. The 80,000-square-foot building at the southern gateway to campus will be dedicated on Oct. 13, 2006.

"Joan and I have the highest regard for President Ford and Mrs. Ford," says Sanford Weill "We are very pleased to make this gift to the Ford School. We see this as one way to demonstrate how much we value their service to society and our long friendship with them."

The gift is part of The Michigan Difference, U-M's $2.5-billion fund-raising campaign.

"This gift will be of tremendous value to students, faculty and the entire Ford School endeavor," says President Mary Sue Coleman. "The discretionary fund provided by this gift will enable the dean to invest in scholarship, develop educational programs and pursue opportunities that will continue to make the Ford School a leader in the public policy arena."

Weill is chairman emeritus of Citigroup Inc., the diversified global financial services company formed by the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group.

He is the founder and chairman of the National Academy Foundation, which trains high school students in career-themed academies. He also serves as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is a current chairman of Carnegie Hall and co-chaired the fund-raising campaign that raised $60 million for the hall's restoration.

He and his wife, Joan, also have been generous benefactors of his alma mater, Cornell University. Both are involved with the Weill Medical College of Cornell University where he serves as the chairman of the Board of Overseers and she serves as the co-chair of the Women's Health Symposium. Joan Weill, a graduate of Brooklyn College, also is chair of the board of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation, as well as chair of the board of trustees for Paul Smith's College of the Adirondacks.

Weills endow Ford School deanship

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