The Yale School of Management has launched the Swensen Asset Management Institute, named in honor of the late David F. Swensen, the New Haven, Conn.-based university's pioneering chief investment officer.
The institute's establishment follows the receipt of a $20 million gift from an anonymous donor. An endowment fund created from the gift will support the creation of a new endowed professorship, more scholarship funding and programming intended to enhance the practice of asset management.
Leading the institute as its director will be Tobias J. Moskowitz, professor of finance, who said in a phone interview that the institute will help foster the School of Management's efforts in asset management-related research connected to its master's degree program in asset management.
Mr. Moskowitz said the program's goal is to train students looking for early careers in asset management and equip them with the necessary skills.
"Not just the theories of diversification and doing the right thing in terms of investment theory," Mr. Moskowitz said, "but also in terms of ethical and fiduciary responsibility as well."
"My goal will be to disperse those funds to those best uses in terms of research and teaching," he said, "to help us actively recruit top scholars that aren't at Yale, and just push forward in asset management research."
Mr. Swensen, who led the university's investment office overseeing its $41.4 billion endowment from 1985 until his death in 2021, is credited with the creation of the "Yale model," which emphasizes non-traditional asset classes such as private equity and venture capital.
Further information on the Swensen Asset Management Institute is available on Yale's website.
