A Focus on Leadership and Innovation—and a Social Startup Fund
Though yet to be fully developed—a faculty advisory committee will guide its creation for release in winter 2017—the curriculum will include courses in design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as leadership training and development. Scholars will also benefit from residential experiences, immersive educational opportunities and additional degree opportunities focused on public policy and problem-solving at scale, the school said. Additionally, there are plans to establish a social startup fund to seed nonprofit startups launched by Knight-Hennessy alumni.
Knight—a 1962 alumnus of Stanford GSB—is already a very familiar name on the business school campus. His 2006 gift helped create the sparkling Knight Management Center that opened in 2011. At the time, his was the largest gift in the history of a business school. His current gift is the largest in the history of Stanford University and matches the $400 million contributed last year to Harvard’s School of Engineering by HBS alumnus and hedge fund billionaire John Paulson. Knight has also made substantial gifts toward endowed professorships and Stanford Athletics.
The $400 million contributed by Knight is considered the founding gift for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program, which will have a total endowment of $750 million, making it the largest fully endowed scholarship program in the world. Considering that more than 80 percent of the endowment will fund the scholars’ graduate education and living expenses, the program represents the largest single increase in student financial aid in Stanford’s history.
Scholars Program Endowment Receives Support from Multiple GSB Alumni
Knight is far from the program’s only supporter. The school reports that dozens of benefactors, including several GSB alumni, together have contributed more than 90 percent—or $700 million—of the endowment goal. A $100 million gift from Robert King (MBA ’60) and his wife, Dorothy, will provide specific support to a cohort of scholars from less economically developed regions of the world. The Kings’ gift additionally will fund development of the King Global Leadership Program, a signature leadership curriculum that all Knight-Hennessy Scholars will complete in addition to their core degree studies. The leadership development component of the new program will draw from the curriculum of Stanford GSB and the Stanford Leadership Academy, as well as leaders from the national and world stage, the school notes.
“While we have seen great achievements in this century, future progress will depend upon our ability to tackle issues such as global poverty,” King said in a statement. “By identifying rising leaders from around the world and exposing them to real-life challenges, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program will equip scholars to lead ambitious change.”
Stanford Board of Trustees Chair Steven Denning (MBA ’78) and his wife, Roberta (AB ’75, MBA ’78), have also given $50 million. Their gift will construct a new building, Denning House, in the heart of the Stanford campus to serve as a hub for the scholars.
