Carnegie Mellon Receives $31 Million Gift for New Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship

Carnegie Mellon UniversityPITTSBURGH, PA – Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) alumnus James R. Swartz (MSIA'66), a distinguished entrepreneur and founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners, has donated $31 million to support the university's entrepreneurship activities. In recognition of this generous gift, the university will create the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, which will serve as a hub for university-wide entrepreneurial activities.

The investment comes as the university builds considerable momentum as a leader in innovation, artistic creativity, learning technologies and transformational discoveries at the crossroads of different academic fields and disciplines. Startup activity among the university's faculty, students and alumni has been robust, with more than 138 companies created since 2009. And with work beginning on the David A. Tepper Quadrangle, the university's major new academic hub, CMU is poised to catalyze a new innovation corridor with global impact in research, invention and commercialization.

Along with his wife, Susan, Swartz has been a generous and deeply committed supporter of the university. Their latest gift, the fifth largest in university history, places them among the most generous benefactors in the university's history.

"This investment will benefit the entire Carnegie Mellon University community," says President Subra Suresh. "We are grateful to Jim and Susan for their generous gift, and for their vision, time and commitment to building on the unique strengths of CMU.

"As one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world, Jim understands the importance of nurturing innovators and creative thinkers. This gift will bring together cross-university initiatives in ways that will have a far-reaching impact on future generations of young entrepreneurs," Suresh says.

The gift includes $13 million in permanent university endowment, which in combination with other resources will support Presidential Scholarships and Fellowships for students, a faculty chair, entrepreneurs-in-residence, an executive director and staff for the center. An additional $18 million will be directed to a number of programmatic and infrastructure projects over the next four years. This includes the $10 million committed last year for the creation of space for entrepreneurship activities in the new building in the David A. Tepper Quadrangle. The remaining $8 million, leveraged with additional support, will fund infrastructure projects at several other locations across campus, new campus-wide curriculum development, a new fund to seed ideas across CMU's colleges and schools, and community outreach to engage local secondary schools in entrepreneurship learning opportunities.

"Carnegie Mellon is one of the world's leading centers for learning and discovery," Swartz says. "From its founding, entrepreneurship has been ingrained throughout the university's culture. With its strengths in technology, science and the arts, CMU is an ideal location to cultivate the ideas, technologies and ultimately solutions that will make a true difference in the world."

With its university-wide scope, the Swartz Center and its director will report to the provost and will serve as the hub that seamlessly connects and incorporates a number of ongoing efforts through the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the James R. Swartz Fellows Program, the Innovation Fellows Program, Project Olympus, LaunchCMU and the Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund, as well as related workshops, competitions and training programs.

As founding partner of the Palo Alto, CA-based Accel Partners, Swartz has led a global venture capital firm that counts many of the most revolutionary technology businesses among its investments, including Facebook, Veritas Software, Riverbed, Etsy and Dropbox. In 2007, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Venture Capital Association.

Swartz is a founding member and chair of President Suresh's Global Advisory Council at CMU, which comprises a distinguished group of about 20 leaders, entrepreneurs and chief executives of major organizations. He also is a member of the Tepper School's Business Board of Advisers. In 2013, the Tepper School honored Swartz with a Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award in recognition of both his professional accomplishments and his commitment to education.

About Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 13,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Announces Winners of 2025 Product Awards

    Spaces4Learning has just announced the winners of the 2025 Product Awards! The award program recognizes innovation and excellence in products that enhance learning environments in K–12 schools and institutions of higher education.

  • California Middle School Completes Two New Academic Buildings

    Sunnyvale Middle School in Sunnyvale, Calif., recently announced that construction is complete on two new classroom buildings of two stories each, according to a district news release. The new wing will house seventh- and eighth-grade students and is part of a larger campus modernization project.

  • ClassVR Wins Tech & Learning Best of Show at ISTELive 25

    Avantis Education recently announced that its flagship product, ClassVR, won the Tech & Learning Best of Show Award at ISTELive 25 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a news release. The program is designed to celebrate products that are “transforming education in schools around the world and that show the greatest promise for the industry,” and this is the fourth consecutive year that Avantis has claimed the award.

  • Tennessee State University Gains Approval for New Engineering Facility

    Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn., recently announced that it has received approval from the Tennessee State Building Commission to build a new engineering building on campus, according to a university news release. The 70,000-square-foot, $50-million facility will play home to the university’s engineering programs and the Applied & Industrial Technology program.