E. Gerald Corrigan, a former chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a current managing director at Goldman Sachs, is making a $3 million gift to the University of Rochester for scholarships and for a professorship in political science.
Corrigan and his wife, Cathy E. Minehan, chief executive and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and an alumna of the University, are building on an existing scholarship fund that assists students as well as endowing a professorship.
"This extraordinary gift is a remarkable symbol of Jerry Corrigan and Cathy Minehan's commitment to the University and exemplifies the value they place on supporting students and faculty," said Joel Seligman, president of the University of Rochester. "Jerry and Cathy were educated at private universities and developed careers in a very public sphere that have had a beneficial impact around the world."
The gift will establish the Corrigan-Minehan Professorship in Political Science in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. The professorship will support a scholar who epitomizes the research and teaching excellence of the late political scientist William F. Riker.
Riker revolutionized the modern study of political science. Through his scholarship, teaching, institution-building, and disciplinary leadership, he helped create the field of positive political theory and demonstrated the value of rigorous, scientific theory for understanding empirical regularities in politics. Together with his colleagues and their students, Riker established the Department of Political Science at the University of Rochester as one of the leading centers of political science in the nation.
Part of the new Corrigan gift will broaden the existing Corrigan-Minehan Scholarship Fund. Students with significant financial need, underrepresented minorities, athletes in good academic standing, and those pursuing research in the social sciences directed by a faculty member can benefit.
"This marvelous gift directly supports the core mission of the College to provide outstanding educational and research opportunities for students," said Peter Lennie, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. "Scholarship aid opens our doors ever wider to excellent students with financial need."
Corrigan, an economist who earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Fordham University, is a participating managing director at Goldman Sachs, where among other responsibilities, he co-chairs the firm's global Risk Management Committee. Prior to joining Goldman in 1994, he served the Federal Reserve for 25 years. His contribution to monetary policy setting as vice chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee for 10 years and to a variety of financial stability issues had national and international impact.
Corrigan chaired the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, an international policy setting body, and was responsible for the first set of international capital regulations known as Basle I. He was also instrumental in establishing, and served as co-chairman of, the Russian-American Banking Forum, which assisted Russia in the development of its banking and financial infrastructure in the early 1990s.
Minehan, who holds an MBA from New York University, is well-known for her work in national and international payment systems. She has served as a trustee of the University of Rochester since 1995 and is chair of the executive committee of the Board of Trustees.