The General Electric family of businesses--GE Capital, GE Industrial Systems, and the GE Fund--pledged $11 million to the University over the next five years to fortify UConn's position as an educational leader in e-business and e-engineering, and to bolster diversity initiatives.

Collectively, the GE commitment represents the largest single corporate investment in UConn history and will support the Schools of Business and Engineering, and the Neag School of Education.

"Major institutions are known by the company they keep, and we are indeed honored that one of the world's most admired companies is making this generous and broad-based investment in the University of Connecticut," says President Philip E. Austin.

GE Capital's five-year, $8 million investment has already resulted in the establishment of the innovative GE Capital edgelab at the University's Stamford campus. The facility includes a 9,000-plus-square-foot lab where students and faculty researchers collaborate with GE Capital executives to analyze emerging technologies and make recommendations on actual GE Capital e-projects and e-commerce business models.

According to Denis Nayden, chairman and CEO of GE Capital and a UConn School of Business alumnus, "UConn students and faculty will be enriched by an unprecedented learning and applied research experience, while GE Capital will benefit from the projects and the direct talent pipeline to tomorrow's e-business leaders."

The GE-UConn partnership also includes GE Industrial Systems' three-year, $1.5 million commitment to the School of Engineering, supporting joint research in materials, circuit breaker technology, and energy management ventures.

"By joining UConn and GE research," explains Lloyd Trotter, president and CEO of GE Industrial Systems, "we can work together to explore new technologies and form a new e-engineering environment that will dramatically change how engineering concepts are created, as well as how teachers teach and students learn."

The GE Fund, the philanthropic foundation of the General Electric Company, provides the third part of the $11 million GE investment: a five-year, $1.5 million grant to be divided equally between the Schools of Business and Engineering. The money will be used to develop innovative ways of working and learning across distances, pilot new technology-based curricula--in collaboration with the Neag School of Education--and strengthen outreach and scholarship activities to increase the enrollment and success of minority engineering and business students.