A Wall Street billionaire has donated a record sum of $75 million to Johns Hopkins University to help expand the school's Philosophy Department.
William H. “Bill” Miller III, founder and chairman of Miller Value Partners and former manager of the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust, has committed to donating a record $75 million to John Hopkins University’s Department of Philosophy. Miller's donation is believed to be the largest ever given to a university philosophy program and the largest any humanities department at Johns Hopkins has ever received. Miller's donation will be used to help support staff and research programs as well as provide graduate student support and broaden undergraduate study within the department. Portions of donated funds will also be used to help the University’s Philosophy Department grow from its current 13 full-time faculty members to 22 over the next 10 years. As a way of expressing their gratitude and appreciation, the school has renamed the Philosophy Department in his honor.
Miller attended Johns Hopkins University as a graduate student in the 1970’s, and even though he did not receive his doctorate in Philosophy and left the program early to pursue a career in investment, he attributes much of his business success to the “analytical training and habits of mind” that Hopkins Philosophy Department helped him develop.
While Miller's namesake alone may not be enough to encourage and influence a student's choice in his/her field of study, his donation and testimony could help encourage students to enter the school's philosophy program.
Through the use of his record-setting donation, Miller hopes that ultimately the department’s goal "to set a new standard for excellence in philosophy and promote powerful, change-making collaboration between philosophers and other scholars" will become a reality.
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