Carlson Family Foundation gives $15 million to University of Minnesota

The latest gift is one of the largest since the late Curt Carlson, founder of the Carlson company, donated $25 million in 1986 to the business school.

July 27, 2018 at 1:06AM
MINNEAPOLIS/USA - July 23: Entrance to the campus of the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota is a university in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN and the 6th largest univerity in the USA. July 23, 2012. ORG XMIT: MIN1505261330310624 ORG XMIT: MIN1510071124370054 ORG XMIT: MIN1601201325070229
Entrance to the campus of the University of Minnesota. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Carlson Family Foundation has announced $15 million in gifts to the University of Minnesota, including $10 million to expand the global reach of its business school, the Carlson School of Management.

The latest gift is one of the largest since the late Curt Carlson, founder of the Carlson company, donated $25 million in 1986 to the business school that bears his name, officials said Thursday.

"The foundation laid by Curt Carlson over 30 years ago propelled the Carlson School to the global stage," President Eric Kaler said in a statement announcing the donation. "Today's gift will advance the Carlson School's capacity for global leadership and have far-reaching benefits."

In all, the Carlson family has contributed more than $68 million to the university, making it the school's largest single contributor, U officials said. Curt Carlson, who died in 1999, graduated from the university in 1937.

Carlson's granddaughter, Wendy Nelson, who chairs the Carlson Family Foundation, said the latest gift is designed "to cement the school's position as a leading business school with a global reach and a powerful purpose — business as a force for good."

The Carlson school has partnerships and student exchange programs in 34 countries and has more than 55,000 alumni in 90 countries.

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