Three new gifts totaling $8.5 million will help launch the Foundations for Success Fundraising Initiative at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The initiative has a goal of raising $200 million to help the business school’s ability to recruit exceptional students through scholarships and provide funding for educational and experiential opportunities at Michigan Ross and beyond.
One of the new gifts to the initiative was $2.5 million from Ross School Advisory Board member Bill Stein to create the Stein Scholarship Cohort Fund. The Stein Fund will be used to provide scholarships and programming for Ross students with a demonstrated financial need in the Bachelor of Business Administration program.
Fellow board member Jane Okun Bomba, with her husband Gary Bomba, also committed $2 million in need-based scholarship support for students affiliated with the Michigan Ross Business+Impact initiative and/or who are involved in social impact or sustainability.
The third $4 million endowed estate gift is from anonymous donors that will be added to an established scholarship fund.
“Attending the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business changed the trajectory of our lives in ways we never thought possible,” said the anonymous donors. “By contributing to the Foundations for Success Initiative, we hope to give this same opportunity to others.”
Funds raised also will go toward creating more opportunities for action-based learning, leadership development, and critical thinking — all signature aspects of a Ross business education.
“I have been a professor at Ross for more than 30 years and am passionate about our mission of building a better world through business,” says Francine Lafontaine, interim dean of Michigan Ross and the William Davidson Professor of Business Administration.
“I believe the most effective way to make real progress toward our mission is to keep opening our doors to promising and ambitious students through the power of scholarships — and to provide them with as many enriching learning experiences as possible while they are here. Among our foremost priorities is mobilizing financial support for students.”
