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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 1995
Contact: Justin Harmon (609) 258-5732


Hong Kong Entrepreneur Gordon Wu
Pledges $100 Million to Princeton University
to Strengthen Engineering

Princeton, N.J., Nov. 9 -- Gordon Y.S. Wu, a Hong Kong
entrepreneur and member of the Princeton University Class of
1958, has pledged a gift of $100 million to Princeton in
connection with the University's upcoming celebration of its 250th
anniversary. The gift will be used to strengthen engineering at
Princeton, the field in which Wu and his son, Thomas, majored as
undergraduates.

Wu's gift is one of the largest ever made to an American
university. His previous gifts to Princeton have included $7.5
million to construct Bowen Hall, which opened in 1992 as the home
of the Princeton Materials Institute; $3.5 million to construct Wu
Hall, which opened in 1983 as the social and dining center for
Butler College, one of Princeton's five residential colleges for
first- and second-year students; two professorships, one in
Chinese studies and one in engineering; and more than $1 million
in unrestricted support through Annual Giving.

President Harold T. Shapiro said, "This is an absolutely
extraordinary gift from an absolutely extraordinary man. His past
gifts have enabled Princeton to take major steps in the field of
materials science and engineering, in improving undergraduate
residential life, and in a number of other areas. With this gift
he not only moves into the front ranks among all-time Princeton
donors, but he enables the University to significantly enhance its
programs of teaching and research. It will dramatically strengthen
our School of Engineering and Applied Science and have a major
impact on the overall quality of Princeton for many years to come.
For all the students, faculty, staff and alumni who will benefit
from this gift -- in engineering and in other areas of the
University that will be affected by it -- I want to express our
deepest thanks."

Wu said, "Princeton has made an enormous difference in my life,
and I am delighted to be able to express my gratitude in such a
tangible way. The generosity of earlier generations of donors made
it possible for me to attend Princeton as a young student from
Hong Kong, and I have always wanted to do all I could to assure
that students in the future -- from the United States and around
the world - will have the same kinds of opportunities I had to
learn from faculty members who are leaders in their fields at a
university that remains second to none in its commitment to
teaching. I am especially pleased that this gift will be used to
strengthen Princeton's programs in the rapidly evolving field of
engineering, a field of obvious importance to me in which
Princeton has an exceptional capacity for leadership."

The announcement of Wu's gift comes just one day before the formal
launch of an Anniversary Campaign for Princeton that will seek to
raise $750 million over the next five years. The campaign's goals
include $125 million in unrestricted gifts through Annual Giving,
and $625 million in endowment, construction, and spendable funds.

Founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, Princeton became a
university on the occasion of its sesquicentennial in 1896. The
first engineering course at Princeton was offered in 1875, and the
first graduate-level engineering program was instituted in 1889.
The then-existing engineering departments were organized into a
School of Engineering in 1921, which was renamed a School of
Engineering and Applied Science in 1962. The School currently
consists of five departments: Chemical Engineering; Civil
Engineering and Operations Research; Computer Science; Electrical
Engineering; and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In the
rankings of doctoral programs recently released by the prestigious
National Research Council, all five departments ranked in the top
10 nationally in the scholarly quality of their faculty and the
effectiveness of their teaching programs.

Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science James Wei
said, "This gift presents us with a splendid opportunity to
transform engineering at Princeton and raise it to an even higher
level of excellence. We aim to create a unique curriculum that
combines rigorous study in science and engineering, a broad
education in the liberal arts, strong communication and teamwork
skills, and hands-on experience in solving real-world problems.
These new resources will also enable us to strengthen our faculty
and expand our commitment to outstanding research. This
exceedingly generous and forward-looking gift will increase
Princeton's capacity to develop new knowledge and to provide our
students with education for leadership in the 21st century."

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