Rockefeller Adds to Center Gift

David Rockefeller ’36, the donor who endowed the Center for Latin American Studies 12 years ago, will contribute an additional $10 million to the center, the University announced over the weekend.

The new gift brings Rockefeller’s total contribution to $25 million, and will help finance the center’s academic programs, the University said.

The gift will also bolster the center’s grants for students conducting research that requires travel to Latin America. And it will support grants for students with internships in Latin America, independently or through the center’s internship program.

“The Center has more than fulfilled my expectations, and has played an important role in helping Harvard transform itself from a U.S. institution with an international reputation into a truly global university,” Rockefeller said in a statement on Saturday.

“I would like to ensure that the Center will continue to be a leader in Latin American studies far into the future.”

The announcement comes three weeks after several of Harvard’s other international study centers turned down some students’ requests for research travel grants this summer, responding to a surge in applications.

But the Center for Latin American Studies funded over 90 percent of students requesting summer grants, according to its student services coordinator, Sebastian J. Sanchez ’04. While the number of applications to the center’s own internship program doubled, requests for research grants did not increase, the center said. The center is providing support for 128 undergraduates and 43 graduate students who are traveling to Latin America this summer, according to the center’s director, John H. Coatsworth.

“I believe that this $10 million dollar gift will not affect funding for this summer,” Sanchez wrote in an e-mail.

University President Lawrence H. Summers, who has supported an expansion of international study during his short tenure, cited the center’s travel grants in a statement praising Rockefeller.

“More than 1,200 Harvard students have received grants from the Center to conduct research or take up internships and service opportunities in Latin America, supporting our goal of providing them with an international experience as part of their education,” Summers said.

“I am enormously grateful to David for all he has done for Harvard, and I have been honored to work with him.”

Rockefeller¹s latest gift comes at a time of transition for the center. Coatsworth, a historian who has directed the center since its founding in 1994, will step down at the end of next month. He will be succeeded by political scientist Merilee S. Grindle.

Rockefeller, a former chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Bank, was an honorary chair of Harvard’s last University-wide capital campaign in the 1990s. He has also served as president of the Board of Overseers, Harvard’s second-highest governing body.

—Staff writer Nicholas M. Ciarelli can be reached at ciarelli@fas.harvard.edu.