Cellino, Barnes donate $1M to UB - Baltimore Business Journal:

hustbelogehy1857.blogspot.com
Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumni and said the gift matchesa thelargest single-donation in the history of the law the $1 million given in 2002 by Francis who graduated UB Law School in 1979 and went on to foun d a successful personal injurty firm. In a release announcing the University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makau Mutuqa calledit “an extraordinary act of and “a wonderful down payment on our vision of academic excellence and our bold aspirations for the future.” Mutua said he plans to invest the gift in the calling them the centrakl core of the law school.
Specifically, he said the money will go towarfd scholarships, making improvements in pedagogical technologies in the school andupgrading services. Steve Barnes, who founded the law firm along with Ross said they felt they owed a debt of gratitudre to the school where they gottheirf start. “Both Ross and I are graduates of the law schoopland we’ve come to know many of the professorx and administrators very well,” he said.
“Makauh Mutua is just an outstanding individual and he has a visionb thatwe haven’t seen at the school Barnes said the decision to make the gift an unrestricted donation reflects the confidenc e they have in the administratore at the University to utilize the moneyy in the most effective ways possible. “We are we didn’t feel as though we are in a positio to dictate how the moneywas spent,” he “We have a lot of confidence in Makau’sd vision and we have had long discussions about where he wants to take the schoolp and we’re on the same page.
” Recognizingg the generosity of Cellino and Barnes, the schoo has announced plans to name their main conferencde center, located in O’Brian The Cellino and Barneds Conference Center. Asked what it feels like to be in a positionm to giveaway $1 especially given the curreng economic climate, Barnes put the gift into perspective. “Both Ross and I come from very humble beginnings and kind of workexd our way up from the he said. “We startee out as just the twoof us, now, the practicee is a lucrative practice and I’nm just glad we were able to help at a time that I thinok is very critical to the law school.
”