News
Miami Gets a Campus, and Somewhere a Synthesizer Is Crying Happy Tears
Ken Griffin is putting $2 billion into a brand-new Carnegie Mellon campus in Miami's Wynwood, part of a record $3 billion gift. Sarasota has notes, a pastel jacket and two fine campuses of its own.
Cue the synth. Somewhere down in Miami, a speedboat just did a slow, dramatic turn and a flamingo nodded like it had seen this coming.
The news, straight: Citadel founder Ken Griffin and Carnegie Mellon University announced a $3 billion gift today. $2 billion of it launches a new campus, Carnegie Mellon University Miami. The other $1 billion goes to CMU's home campus in Pittsburgh. CMU calls the whole thing the largest gift by an individual in the history of higher education.
Where it's going
Wynwood, the mural-covered Miami neighborhood, on more than 35 acres. Refresh Miami reports the land is a former convention center site at 318 NW 23rd St., and that the $2 billion includes the value of that real estate. The Miami Herald got the first interview with Griffin and CMU president Farnam Jahanian.
The timeline (no rush, it's Florida)
- 2027: construction is slated to begin
- 2028: first graduate students, pending regulatory approvals
- 2032: the first undergraduate class, per President Jahanian's note to campus
When it's finished, the plan is 3,500-plus students, nearly 300 faculty and more than 600 staff. The classes won't be sorted by major. They'll be organized around big challenges: human health, national security, energy and climate resilience, and advanced manufacturing. There will be research labs and venture studios too.
Sarasota reacts
We read the news over a second coffee and had feelings, all of them supportive. Pastel suit? We own a pastel shirt. Neon? The sunset does that for free. Speedboat? Half of Longboat Key has one idling at a dock right now.
And let's be clear: we are not intimidated. The Suncoast already has USF Sarasota-Manatee and New College of Florida, both with sunsets that could give a convention center a run for its money. We're not asking for a $2 billion campus. We'd take a $2 billion parking garage. No pressure.
Still, good for Miami. A whole new university rising from a neighborhood famous for street art is a nice plot twist, and Florida now has one more place for a kid to go chase a big idea. The Miami-Dade mayor called it a boost for the county's technology and innovation future.
Our lead image is just a daydream of what a Miami waterfront campus could look like after an 80s montage. It is not the official rendering. CMU published those, and they're on the announcement page.
I'll be on the dock tonight with the sleeves rolled up and a cassette of driving synth music, waving south at the pink sky.
— Sandy
