Georgetown University has announced a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor to expand international experiences and scholarship programs for underserved students.

The gift includes $250,000 allocated to a scholarship fund that assists students from Puerto Rico and $250,000 to establish a Hoyas for Heroes fund, which will be dedicated to veterans and active military personnel. The remaining $500,000 will support an expansion of the McDonough School of Business Global Business Experience, an immersive program that enables business school students to visit a foreign country and provide consultative services while experiencing a different business, historical, economic, and cultural milieu. To that end, the McDonough portion of the gift includes $200,000 to establish a Global Business Experience Endowed Fund for Undergraduates and $300,000 in support of an Undergraduate Global Business Experience Current Use Fund. Overall, the gift will enable the program to serve an additional twenty-five students, boosting the total number of students in the program to a hundred, and add travel opportunities to Delhi, India, in addition to existing opportunities in Barcelona, Spain; Lille, France; and Mendoza, Argentina.

"The world we live in today requires our next business leaders to be able to quickly understand and adapt to a wide variety of cultures," said the donor. "These funds will help students gain a global perspective."

"There's no substitute for being in-country, looking at the extant realities right in front of your face rather than reading about it in a book," said Patricia Grant, senior associate dean for the undergraduate program at the McDonough School. "These gifts are an incredible catalyst for considering complex issues like the importance of clean water and its connection to educational attainment. We see the Global Business Experience program as the perfect way to not only bring business education to life but also to show students how business can be used as a force for the common good."