Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin will give Carnegie Mellon University $3 billion and join its board of trustees, the university announced Wednesday. Carnegie Mellon called it the largest individual donation in higher education history and the largest ever from a hedge fund manager.
Who Controls the Gift
The university will send one-third of the donation to its Pittsburgh campus. The remaining $2 billion will fund a branch campus in Miami, where Griffin will hold a place on the governing board as the institution allocates the money.
The planned Miami campus will cover 25 acres in the heart of the city. Carnegie Mellon aims to support 3,500 undergraduate, master’s and Ph.D. students there. Construction will start in 2027. The university hopes to enroll its first students in 2028.
Griffin said Carnegie Mellon’s role in American science, engineering, technology, arts and humanities drove the gift. “Carnegie Mellon University has made profound contributions to America’s preeminence in science, engineering, technology, and the arts and humanities,” he said. “Since its founding, Carnegie Mellon has fostered remarkable talent, pioneered scientific breakthroughs, and expanded the frontiers of research — shaping global leaders and innovators.”
Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian thanked Griffin for his “extraordinary vision, partnership and belief in what Carnegie Mellon can achieve.” Jahanian said the university had anticipated technological change throughout its history and responded with new approaches.
Research Priorities
Carnegie Mellon plans to direct the money toward research in national security and strategic capabilities, energy and climate resilience, and human health and biological discovery. The announcement connects the gift to research and campus expansion, but it doesn't say how much will go to each research area.
Jahanian called artificial intelligence a central reason to change the university’s approach to education and research. “Artificial intelligence represents one of the defining intellectual developments of our time, and it demands that we rethink how we educate students, conduct research and partner with others,” he said.
He said the university intended to extend its “agility, creativity, interdisciplinary culture and relentless focus on impact” through what he called “a new model for higher education.” The announcement offered no further details about that model.
Campus Expansion
The Miami project accounts for the largest described use of the donation. Griffin’s $2 billion will fund the branch campus, planned for 25 acres and a target population of 3,500 students. Carnegie Mellon will direct the remaining one-third of the $3 billion gift to Pittsburgh, the university said.
Griffin will join Carnegie Mellon’s board of trustees as part of the donation. The university announced the gift and his board role on Wednesday. Its announcement listed national security, strategic capabilities, energy, climate resilience, human health and biological discovery among planned research investments, and linked the gift to a new Miami campus and expanded higher education capacity.