Ann Arbor, MI | September 12, 2017
Karl C.K. Ma has made a gift to the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies in the amount of $2.5 million. Of that sum, $2 million will be used to establish the Karl C.K. Ma Endowed Graduate Scholarship Fund, and the remaining $500,000 will be used to establish an expendable fund. The purpose of Ma’s gift is to provide need-based support to graduate students from Asia who wish to pursue careers in public service, particularly those in the Schools of Social Work, Education, and Nursing. Ma also hopes his gift will support students whose research or primary scholarly focus is on the study and preservation of Asian cultures, including Asian regional studies, music, art, language, and literature.
I want part of my earnings from investments to go to the human side of this world. That’s why I established this scholarship, to support the students of the University of Michigan and to support the humanities. Karl C.K. Ma
Ma’s gift was also eligible for the University’s Bicentennial Opportunity Matching Initiative, which is anticipated to add an additional $500,000 to the gift value.
Ma graduated from the University of Michigan in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He later went on to earn his master’s degree in finance from the London Business School. He currently resides in Hong Kong and is the executive chairman and executive director of TUS International. During the 2017 Pan-Asia Alumni Reunion, Debing Su of Michigan News interviewed Ma about his experience at the University of Michigan and his continued support. You can find an abridged transcript of their conversation on Rackham's website.
The 2017 cohort of Ma Scholars, the first to receive Ma’s funding, includes Ph.D. candidates Kayoung Lee, Min Huynh, and Hayeon Lee. Kayoung Lee is studying nursing with a focus on injury prevention and safety, health disparities, public health, and data science. Min Huynh is a student in educational studies focusing his dissertation on global educational governance and policy discourse. Hayeon Lee’s field of study is social work and anthropology, focusing primarily on Vietnamese women who migrated to South Korea for marriage and have decided to return to their home country for various reasons.
When asked what motivated him to give, Ma said, “I want part of my earnings from investments to go to the human side of this world. That’s why I established this scholarship, to support the students of the University of Michigan and to support the humanities.”
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