(Our Bureau, June 15) Satya Nadella and his wife Anu have donated $2 million (₹14.6 crore) to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) to help the institution recruit and retain more undergraduate and graduate students from marginalized communities. Hyderabad-born Nadella himself earned his master’s in Computer Science from UWM in 1990 and wants to encourage students to build careers in computer science, data science, and information technology.
“We know that while talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. And when people have access to education and skilling, they create new opportunity for themselves and their communities,” Satya and Anu Nadella said in a statement.
The Microsoft CEO’s donation will be directed towards a university fund that aims to promote diversity in tech education; the program will support pre-college programming to get K-12 students oriented towards the field early on. A bulk of the money will also be used for students’ college scholarships and emergency grants for students at risk of dropping out due to financial constraints.