A $16 million gift from a family long associated with Carnegie Mellon University will boost campus endeavors from scholarships for high-achieving students of limited means to library operations to a new health and athletics venue, leaders say.
In a note to campus, Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian said the gift from the Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh includes $10 million toward the 3-year-old Tartan Scholars Program that offers academic, financial and social support.
Another $5 million, he told the campus late Thursday, will name and endow the Helen and Henry Posner, Jr. Dean’s Chair for the University Libraries, the family’s latest philanthropy toward University Libraries. It will offer resources for strategic priorities and continue to strengthen the University Libraries’ collections.
Keith Webster will be the inaugural chairholder, Mr. Jahanian said.
Yet another portion, totaling $1 million, will go toward the construction of Carnegie Mellon’s new Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics, an investment that school officials have said will help improve the campus experience through physical and psychological well-being.
“The Posners have been ardent champions of Carnegie Mellon and our students for decades. A member of the Posner family has served on the CMU Board of Trustees for nearly all of the past 35 years, starting with Henry Posner Jr. in 1986, and now Anne Molloy, trustee of the Posner Foundation and the wife of its chairman, Henry Posner III,” Mr. Janhanian said in his campus message.
The health center development at the corner of Tech and Margaret Morrison streets fronting Schenley Park is seen as a potential gateway to campus. It will encompass 160,000 square feet and bring student well-being services under one roof. It received a $35 million grant from Highmark in 2019.
Construction is ongoing, and Carnegie Mellon hopes it will be completed by 2024, university spokeswoman Shilpa Bakre said Friday. The overall project cost is $105 million.
It will have the square footage for University Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services and the university’s intercollegiate athletics program, as well recreational sports, religious and spiritual life activities, and sports medicine. It will feature a 1,000-seat performance gymnasium, Ms. Bakre said.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bschackner
First Published: November 5, 2021, 2:55 p.m.
