John A. Edwardson

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is a graduate business school located in Chicago, Illinois, at the University of Chicago. Formerly known as the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S., the first such school to offer an Executive MBA program, and the first to initiate a Ph.D. program in business. The school was renamed in 2008 following a $300 million endowment gift to the school by alumnus David G. Booth. The school has the third-largest endowment of any business school. The school's flagship campus is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago on the main campus of the university. The school also maintains additional campuses in London and Asia (originally Singapore, but in July 2013 a move to Hong Kong was announced), as well as in downtown Chicago on the Magnificent Mile. In addition to conducting graduate business programs, the school conducts research in the fields of finance, economics, quantitative marketing research, and accounting. Chicago Booth is currently ranked first in the United States by Bloomberg Businessweek and first globally by the Economist.

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and money from Lafayette businessman John Purdue to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name. The first classes were held on September 16, 1874, with six instructors and 39 students. The university was founded with the gift of $150,000 from John Purdue, a Lafayette business leader and philanthropist, along with $50,000 from Tippecanoe County, and 150 acres (0.6 km²) of land from Lafayette residents in support of the project. In 1869, it was decided that the new school would be built near the city of Lafayette and established as Purdue University, in the name of the institution’s principal benefactor. The West Lafayette campus offers more than 200 majors for undergraduates, over 70 master’s and doctoral programs, and professional degrees in pharmacy and veterinary medicine. In addition, Purdue has 18 intercollegiate sports teams and more than 850 student organizations. Today, Purdue is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue enrolls the second largest student body of any university in Indiana as well as the fourth largest international student population of any university in the United States.