Kushagra Bajaj announces $2.5 mn endowment for Carnegie Mellon

WASHINGTON: Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, the Vice-Chairman of the Bajaj Group, has made a $ 2.5 million gift to endow a professorship in the Tepper School of Business of the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University.

The gift will be used to endow the Bajaj Family Chair, which will be held by a Tepper School of Business professor to be named by the university's president and provost.

The gift will support teaching and research in a field selected by the chair recipient, the university said in a statement.

Kushagra, who graduated from the Carnegie in 1997 with a degree in economics, political philosophy and finance from the Tepper School of Business, is providing the gift through his family foundation, the Kamalnayan Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation, the university said.

"I am proud to strengthen my association with Carnegie Mellon University and this endowment is a gesture of appreciation for my alma mater," he said.

The gift continues Carnegie Mellon's important connections to India.

More than 30 per cent of Carnegie Mellon students are from outside the US and the majority of those students are from India.

In addition, the largest concentration of its alumni outside of the US lives in India.

"On behalf of Carnegie Mellon, I thank Kushagra Bajaj and his family for this wonderful gift," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L Cohon.

"Through his generosity, Kushagra is further strengthening the connection between Carnegie Mellon and India. Many of our faculty and students hail from India and the country is home to many of our alumni," he said.