Anne E. Tusca, a 1988 graduate of New York University, has donated $53.6 million to the Stern School of Business, the largest gift in the school’s history.
File photo: NYU Stern School of Business Spring 2022 (Kieran Kamanduri for WSN)
March 7, 2023
NYU’s Stern School of Business is $53.6 million richer thanks to a recent donation from alumna Anne E. Tusco, who owns an Italian real estate firm. The donation, the largest the school has ever received, will go toward student scholarships, study abroad programs and a new faculty position, according to the school’s dean.
The funds will support four new scholarships in Tusk’s name — two for undergraduates and two for graduates — beginning next academic year. The business school will also establish a faculty position in honor of Taska’s father, an economist who served as a U.S. diplomat in Italy, South Korea, Greece and other countries during his career.
“We are always looking to increase financial aid to support students and expand access to a Stern education,” wrote Raghu Sundaram, dean, to WSN. “Whether it is expected or not, it is always an extremely positive feeling to receive such a gift as a huge vote of confidence in the power of education to transform lives that will enrich so many.”
A graduate of the School of Professional Studies in 1983 and a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University in 1988, Tasca currently runs the family real estate firm Edilizia Rosazza with her sister. The headquarters of the company is located in Rome.
Last semester, Stern graduate Charles C. Chen donated $20 million to the school to establish the Chao-Hong Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance and to fund undergraduate and graduate scholarships. William Berkeley, another Stern alumnus who currently chairs NYU’s university-wide board of trustees, and Leonard Stern, the school’s namesake, each donated $50 million to Stern in 2021, allowing the school to increase student financial aid, according to Sundaram.
Some students, like freshman Harshit Singhal, believe the school’s tuition reduction efforts are better focused on lowering the average cost of attendance among students than on individual scholarships.
“It’s really cool, and it’s a really big amount, but the question is how is it going to help the average student,” Singhal said. “Stern gets so much money and we students still have to pay $80,000.”
NYU has received other major donations outside of Stern, including donation of $100 million from hedge fund billionaire John Paulson. This contribution went towards the university’s new academic super complex at 181 Mercer Street.
Other students felt the money should go to student resources other than scholarships. Richard Phan, a junior at Stern, said the school should use the funds to improve recreational facilities and student-centered activities.
“I’m glad alumni are giving back, and I’m glad we’re getting funding,” Phan said. “I would like them to use the funding for things like break rooms and encourage students to get to know each other and have places to hang out and create a more informal environment.”
Others outside the Stern community said that NYU’s lesser-known programs are often overlooked in favor of high-profile donations to certain schools. CAS junior Didi Onwuanyi said she hopes the music program may need more funding.
“It’s so small and all the rooms are so cold that they have the worst classrooms,” Onwuanyi said. “But Taska has every right to use the money the way she does, I’m not denying that.”
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