Cornell University has announced a $50 million gift from alumni Peter ('80, MBA '82) and Stephanie Nolan ('84) in support of the School of Hotel Administration.

The gift will name the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration and provide scholarship funding to expand educational access for future generations of hospitality business leaders. The Nolans' landmark gift will be matched 1:3 by challenge funds from H. Fisk Johnson ('79, '80, MS '82, MBA '84, PhD '86) and the SC Johnson company. As part of a $150 million gift to name the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business in 2017, the match will generate more than $16 million in support of financial aid for students in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

The Nolans previously made a gift in 2011 to endow the David J. Nolan Deanship of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, named in honor of Peter Nolan's father, David Nolan ('49, MS '51), and endowed scholarships to bolster Cornell's need-blind admission policy and provide opportunities for graduate business education at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

"[We want to] keep the students in programs at the school that are not just in line with what's currently going on, but also predicting some future trends in the industry," said Stephanie Nolan, herself a graduate of the hotel school. "It's really important to keep them ahead of the game, like the school always has been."

"Education is the greatest equalizer that we have, because it truly does give everyone an equal shot at the future," said Peter Nolan, founder and chair of Nolan Capital and senior advisor at Leonard Green & Partners, a presidential councillor, and an emeritus member of the Cornell board. "The least we can do is give everyone the same platform from which they can go out and achieve whatever it is they're going to achieve."