Gov. Ron DeSantis will give remarks in Miami Thursday alongside Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin and Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian.
What Ken Griffin said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Ken Griffin announced a $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University, the largest single gift in the history of higher education, split between $1 billion for the Pittsburgh campus and $2 billion to create a new campus in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. Griffin said the investment is predicated on elevating institutions of excellence and ensuring the best faculty and students come to CMU. He highlighted CMU's leadership in computer science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and robotics, and its roots in humanities and fine arts. Griffin noted Citadel has almost 5,000 team members, many of whom are CMU graduates. He praised Florida's education system, including fourth-grade reading scores in Miami leading the nation among urban schools. Griffin said the new campus will create extraordinary jobs and give every child in Miami a greater chance to realize their dreams, and he promised the board of trustees they will not let them down.
Key takeaways
Griffin committed $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon, the largest single gift in higher education history, with $1 billion for Pittsburgh and $2 billion for a new Miami campus.
Griffin said CMU leads the nation in computer science, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, and is world-renowned in robotics.
Griffin stated Citadel has almost 5,000 team members, many of whom graduated from Carnegie Mellon.
Griffin said Miami leads the nation in fourth-grade reading scores amongst urban schools.
Griffin promised the CMU board of trustees that they will not let them down with the decision to bring CMU to South Florida.
My body around everywhere. Now you're ready to go home. Can I get all night?
Heat. Heat. Thank you. Shh. I love you. Everyone in the bathroom. Albert, sorry. All
right, turn around here. We can do what we want. It's our house. We can do what I want. We can't. Overall, here. Still here, bro. Everywhere. Look at you. You get the same way.
Even if the sky is it not slow. Even. Yeah. Temperature. My. I don't even have to tell them. You're going to stay there, bro. You're going to stand there. You have to tell you guys. All right. Not quite yet. He's in a bad spot. We'll move out of the way. Appreciate it.
My gift to Carnegie Mellon is predicated on the belief that we must continue to elevate our institutions of excellence. It will continue to ensure that the best and brightest faculty come here. It will continue to ensure that the best students in the country come here. The work here at CMU is changing the very world we live in. Now, the people of Pittsburgh — strong-willed, determined, independent, proud of who they are. This $3 billion investment. I am asking the students of CMU to show the rest of our country the importance of a great higher education, and to show it by the success stories that you write with your life.
Over 125 years ago, Andrew Carnegie imagined something radical: a university where people who worked hard could learn, create, and build a better future. That idea became Carnegie Mellon University, where rigorous work, creativity, and collaboration turned ideas into discoveries that impact the world.
Today, that legacy takes another extraordinary step. For Ken Griffin, advancing education has long meant investing in human potential. Now Ken is making a historic $3 billion commitment to Carnegie Mellon — the largest single gift in the history of higher education: $1 billion to bring more resources, more talent, more capabilities to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.
And $2 billion to create Carnegie Mellon University Miami, a new center for research, creativity, and intellectual life in the heart of Miami, in Wynwood. Bringing together exceptional students, scholars, and researchers from around the world, where real-world labs push discovery with urgency, empowering students under the same roof to hit the ground running, transforming ideas into impact.
Because inside these halls, the boundaries of what humanity can achieve will continue to be redefined as we create, discover, and build. What comes next?
7 more exchanges in this transcript
Sign in free to read the rest of this interview. No card required.
