The Family of Carl H. Lindner Jr. and American Financial Group Give $11M for New UC Lindner College of Business Building
Transformative Gift is Largest Ever for the Lindner College of Business
CINCINNATI - October 5, 2016 – The University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business has received the largest gift in its 110-year history from the family of the late Carl H. Lindner Jr., the college’s namesake, and Cincinnati-based holding firm American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG). The transformative $11 million gift will help create a new 225,000-square-foot building for the Lindner College of Business, which is expected to be completed by fall 2019.
The Lindner family, including Edyth Lindner, wife of the late Carl H. Lindner Jr., Carl III and Martha Lindner, S. Craig and Frances Lindner, and Keith and Courtney Lindner, generously contributed $6 million to the project and is considering naming opportunities around the new building and complex. AFG made the largest gift ever in its history, giving $5 million to the new building project. The Lindners hope the gift will inspire others to give back to the college while honoring the legacy of their beloved father and husband, Carl H. Lindner Jr.
“My family gives this gift out of love for our father, Carl H. Lindner Jr., the trajectory of the University of Cincinnati, and our longstanding relationship with UC.” said Carl H. Lindner III, Co-CEO of AFG, BBA ‘75.
“We are excited about the tremendous success of the Carl H. Lindner Jr. College of Business and are proud to support fundraising efforts for the innovative new building that continues our father’s legacy,” said S. Craig Lindner, Co-CEO of AFG, BBA ’77.
In early August, the university released preliminary renderings of the new building for the Lindner College of Business, designed by internationally renowned Henning Larsen Architects with Cincinnati-based KZF Design as the architect of record. Early designs feature a four-story building with glass facades, a grand atrium and lobby, open workspaces, a courtyard, a large café, lecture spaces, a teaching lab and more.
“Carl H. Lindner Jr. and his family have been instrumental in positioning our business school as one of the best in the nation, and with this transformational gift, they are ensuring our rise to preeminence with a best-in-class campus to educate the world’s next business leaders for generations to come,” said David Szymanski, dean of the Lindner College of Business. “Our innovative and inspirational facility will be leading edge and will meaningfully advance the college and the university by creating new learning possibilities and solution-driven outcomes for students, faculty, alumni, and corporate and community partners. We are grateful for the Lindner family’s leadership support and look forward to continuing the extraordinary legacy of our college’s namesake.”
The new Lindner College of Business building is expected to cost about $120 million and will occupy the current site of the Russell C. Myers Alumni Center and Faculty Club building. Temporary and permanent locations are being considered for the Alumni Association.
“The Lindner family has made an unparalleled impact on the University of Cincinnati,” said UC Interim President Beverly J. Davenport. “From Carl H. Lindner Jr.’s visionary support of the Lindner College of Business to the family’s founding of the Lindner Center of HOPE to their game-changing contributions to Bearcats athletics, UC is truly grateful for our prized partnership with the Lindner family. The new home for our Lindner College of Business will be an exemplar of how 21st century learning spaces can transform the educational experience for our students and symbolize the rise to international prominence of both the University of Cincinnati and the Lindner College of Business. It is destined to become a global model for premier business schools focused on student-centered learning, innovation, collaboration and interaction with industry experts.”
Fundraising for the new building has been underway since August 2015, and more than $20 million has been raised for the project. The current building, located at 2925 Campus Green Drive, is nearly three decades old and unable to accommodate the college’s rapid growth. Enrollment in undergraduate and graduate business degrees have both increased, up 50 percent and 200 percent, respectively, since 2010. More than one third of business classes are now taught outside Lindner Hall.
“With this incredibly generous gift, the Lindner Family and AFG have issued a rallying cry for UC’s other partners to invest in the new building project for the Lindner College of Business,” said UC Foundation President Rodney Grabowski. “The new facility will benefit the university and city for decades to come, serving as a central hub for the intersection of business education and practice.”
In recent years, the Lindner College of Business has received numerous national accolades and is on a path toward preeminence. Its MBA program has earned the biggest three-year rankings jump in the country in U.S. News & World Report and the Lindner MBA was recently ranked the No. 1 best value MBA program in the United States by CollegeAtlas.org. Several of its undergraduates programs also are nationally ranked, including its marketing program, which Bloomberg Businessweek recently ranked No. 5 in the nation among public universities. The new building will help propel this growth and spur further national and international recognition.
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About the University of Cincinnati Foundation
Established in 1975, the University of Cincinnati Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation and is the private sector fundraising entity for the University of Cincinnati and UC Health. The foundation supports UC’s aspirations through philanthropic collaboration with the colleges, the Academic Health Center, UC Health and other units to maximize private support. The foundation’s advancement efforts promote the development of productive, enduring relationships with alumni, friends, colleagues, students, foundations, corporations and the Greater Cincinnati community. For more information, please visit foundation.uc.edu.
About American Financial Group, Inc.
American Financial Group (NYSE: AFG) is an insurance holding company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio with assets of approximately $50 billion. Through the operations of Great American Insurance Group, AFG is engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for businesses, and in the sale of fixed and fixed-indexed annuities in the retail, financial institutions and education markets. Great American Insurance Group’s roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American Insurance Company.
Websites:
www.AFGinc.com
www.GreatAmericanInsuranceGroup.com