A new $10 million gift from the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation will support MBA scholarships, undergraduate leadership programs and facility enhancements for the Smith School. The gift, announced in September 2015, will also continue to fund the school's Center for Social Value Creation.

“The many conversations about the business school that I had with my father, as well as experiences with him there, made me very aware of how important it was to him,” said foundation president Michelle Smith. “It was natural that I would want to continue to support his legacy and carry on his commitments in the best way I could."

A portion of the gift will go toward an MBA Scholarship Fund, which will help the Smith School compete for the best MBA students by providing additional financial aid.

The gift will also help advance the school's commitment to reality-based learning. Support for the Smith Undergraduate Office will enable the development of innovative programs to enhance leadership learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom experience. These will include extracurricular experiences that complement participants’ academic courses.

Lastly, the gift will fund facility renovations that could include new, dedicated space for specific programs or classroom redesigns to allow for more group discussion and interaction. 

The late Robert H. Smith ’50 earned an accounting degree from the school that later adopted his name. In 1998 he gave $15 million, the largest gift the business school has ever received. Over the years, the Smith family has gone well beyond the initial gift in continued support for the school.