Booth School Alums Give UChicago $75 Million For New Faculty

UChicago alumni Amy Wallman, MBA’75, and Richard Wallman, MBA’74, have given the University of Chicago $75 million. Photo by Art and Alex Photography

From Chicago: University of Chicago alumni Amy Wallman, MBA’75, and Trustee Richard Wallman, MBA’74, have made a $75 million commitment that will dramatically enhance UChicago’s capacity to advance high-potential scholarship through increased resources for faculty.

The Wallmans’ philanthropic commitment will launch a fundraising challenge aimed at inspiring other potential supporters to join them in raising a total of $150 million, which will create 30 new endowed professorships that will support ambitious scholarship in divisions and schools across the University.

“This generous commitment from the Wallmans will greatly support our world-class faculty and will accelerate the impact the University can have on the world,” said President Paul Alivisatos. “I am deeply grateful to Amy and Richard for their partnership and the ambition of their philanthropy, which will ensure that we can continue to recruit and retain the faculty who are making the most important contributions to human knowledge and society.”

“This remarkable gift, which has the potential to advance scholarship and research across so many fields, speaks volumes about Richard’s and Amy’s commitment to the University,” said David M. Rubenstein, JD’73, chair of UChicago’s Board of Trustees. “It is particularly inspiring that it comes so early in Richard’s board tenure.”

The $75 million donation, which is the largest donation in support of faculty chairs in the University’s history, is the Wallmans’ fifth significant gift to the institution. In 2017, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business named its academic high honors distinction, going to the top MBA students in each class, after the Wallmans. The Amy and Richard F. Wallman Scholars at Chicago Booth were named in recognition of the couple’s $75 million gift supporting student scholarships, co-curricular programming, faculty research and emerging priorities at the school.

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Yale SOM photo by Tony Fiorini

Yale SOM welcomes new Master’s in Public Education Management cohort

From New Haven, Connecticut: Thirty-one emerging leaders from urban K-12 school systems across the United States convened in New Haven in July for the first residency week of the 14-month Master’s in Public Education Management program at The Broad Center at the Yale School of Management. The program’s 2023-24 cohort spent the week engaging with one another and with Yale SOM faculty to develop the tools they need to center equity and excellence and make sustainable, measurable impact in their school systems. They also shared their personal experiences and challenges in candid presentations called Leadership Stories.

Across the week, the cohort took courses led by Yale SOM faculty including Education Policy for System Leaders, Strategic Communication, Managerial Decision Making, Strategic Negotiations, and Program Planning & Evaluation.

Mark Paik, senior executive director of data, assessment, and accountability for Detroit Public Schools Community District, said he especially appreciated the real-world applicability of what he learned in Education Policy for System Leaders, co-taught by Richard Lemons and Shana Young: “Professor Lemons and Professor Young designed an experience that fully complements what we bring to the table and put us in situations where we could engage in broader discussions on heavy policy issues—all while making the readings more concrete.”

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GMAC announces European winners of GMAT Talent and Opportunity Scholarship

From The Graduate Management Admission Council: GMAC has announced the winners of the 2023 GMAT Talent and Opportunity Scholarship for the Europe region. The program, well into its second year, aims to increase the number of underrepresented business school candidates by encouraging applications from women, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, socio-economically diverse, LGBTQ+ and non-binary candidates.

The 10 winners, selected out of nearly 300 applications, came from an incredibly wide variety backgrounds across 23 countries in Europe. Each of them will be awarded a scholarship that includes a voucher to cover the full cost of the GMAT Exam or GMAT Focus Edition and a GMAT Official Practice Exam package. In addition, thanks to the generosity of industry partners, the winners will receive a GMAT preparation course with a GMAT instructor, sessions from a professional admissions consultant and online cultural courses for applicants who plan to study abroad. Understanding the importance of mental health and well-being during the admissions process, GMAC will also provide a meditation application subscription for a full year. The total value of the scholarship is close to $5,000 (or €4,500). With such a strong field this year, we are also pleased to reward our 17 runners up with a GMAT Official Guide to help with their exam preparation.

“Our vision is a world where every talented person can benefit from the best business education for them. We strive to improve diversity, inclusion, and access to business school, and this scholarship program is a prime example of one of the ways we work to help business school aspirants realize their education and career dream for the good of not just their personal fulfillment but also the society at large,” says Joy Jones, CEO of GMAC.