University Statements

Dear Cornell Community,

I’m delighted to announce that the School of Hotel Administration in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business has received a historic $50 million gift from alumni Peter J. Nolan '80, MBA '82, and Stephanie Nolan '84. In recognition of the Nolans’ legacy of commitment and support, the school will be named the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration.

For nearly a century, Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration has provided the most relevant, groundbreaking hospitality business education in the world. Through their scholarship, its faculty shape the entire industry, and its alumni—our “Hotelie” graduates—are in leadership positions across the globe. The Nolans’ extraordinarily generous gift, which directly supports financial aid, will ensure that qualified students, regardless of financial means, can benefit from the world-class education and opportunities offered by the Nolan School of Hotel Administration.

The Nolans’ gift will activate challenge funds provided by Fisk Johnson and SC Johnson as part of their gift to name the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business in 2017. These challenge funds will provide an additional $16 million for financial aid support for students in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, through scholarship programs previously created by the Nolans: the Nolan Family Scholarship Fund for undergraduate students in the Dyson School and the Peter and Stephanie Nolan Veterans’ Professional Scholarship Fund in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

The Nolans are leaders in hospitality and business, and Peter has shared his skills with Cornell both as a member of the Board of Trustees (2004-2016) and as a current Presidential Councillor. Peter holds degrees from Dyson and Johnson, Stephanie is a Hotelie, and their three children are all Cornell graduates. In 2011, the Nolans endowed what is today the David J. Nolan Deanship of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in honor of Peter's father, David Nolan '49, M.S. '51, a graduate of the Dyson School, then known as the Department of Agricultural Economics.

I am deeply grateful to Peter and Stephanie, and I have no doubt that the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, the first and best hospitality school in the world, will continue to thrive for the next 100 years.

I encourage you to read more about the Nolans and this gift in the Cornell Chronicle.

Sincerely,

Martha E. Pollack
President