A donation of $1 million from Alba Tull and the First Light Capital Group will help Robert Morris University launch the RMU Century Initiatives and Innovation Fund as part of the university’s 100th-year anniversary celebration.
The RMU Century Initiatives and Innovation Fund provides resources to launch and reboot programs critical to positioning the university for success as it enters its second century, according to a release from the university.
“Thanks to the generosity of donors such as Alba Tull, Robert Morris can be ready for what’s next — what’s next in higher education, what’s next in entrepreneurship and innovation, what’s next in the Pittsburgh region and beyond,” said RMU President Chris Howard in the release. “RMU is positioned to be the most agile professional career-focused university in the nation.”
Alba Tull — the wife of billionaire businessman, entrepreneur, film producer and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Thomas Tull — is the founder of First Light Capital, a women-led investment firm that employs a “proprietary technology-informed investment process and predictive analytics to trade public equities, private equities and debt,” according to the release.
The donation to RMU marks the second major donation Tull has made to area secondary education institutes. In February, Tull gave a $1 million grant to the University of Pittsburgh for the Alba Tull Center for Neuro Imaging and Therapeutics. In 2019, Tull donated $1.5 million to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation to support pediatric research and art therapy programs.
“Advancing education and supporting young minds as they embark on their professional journey is of utmost importance,” Tull said in the release. “We are proud to support the RMU community and help bring innovative programming to the campus on their 100th anniversary.”
Through the donation, RMU Century Initiatives will include an insurance agency run by students, support programs for students who are veterans and service members, an expansion of the RMU Gateway program for a dual-enrolment, dual-admissions partnership with four western Pennsylvania community colleges, and the establishment of the RMU Center for Innovation and Outreach and the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
