New York University's Stern School of Business has announced a $50 million gift from alumnus Leonard N. Stern (BS '57, MBA '59) in support of undergraduate scholarships.

The gift will support a significant expansion of the Breakthrough Scholars Leadership Program, which was established in 2015 with a $5.75 million gift from Stern. The four-year program provides full financial support to talented and high-performing students from diverse backgrounds and equips them with the skills and networks they need to excel at Stern and beyond by offering cohort-based leadership workshops and activities in addition to the academic support, extracurricular, and career development resources available to all Stern students. The program has achieved a 100 percent graduation rate in each of its three classes to date.

"Unequal access to higher education is one of the great problems of our time. Leonard's gift is a wonderful show of leadership in this context, helping level the playing field," said NYU Stern alumnus and NYU board chair William R. Berkley (BS '66), who, with his wife Marjorie, committed $50 million in July to establish the Berkley Achievement Scholars Program at the school.

"Students who have exceptional ability and fortitude, but lack the resources for a world-class education, deserve to have the doors at NYU Stern open to them," said Stern, whose gift in 1988 enabled NYU to consolidate its graduate and undergraduate business education facilities to create the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. "I encourage others to take on the challenge of access to education and change the lives of talented and deserving young people."