CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – At University of Virginia, a large gift from a Charlottesville donor is funding the expansion of a school that did not exist just five years ago.
Now the dean of the School of Data Science Philip Bourne said it has quickly outgrown its original building.
“This is a big deal for us,” Bourne said. “It really is the next phase of the development of the school, which has been really a sort of skyrocket event.”
As founding dean, Bourne helped start the school five years ago and has witnessed its expansion from a staff of five to 160 during that time.
Charlottesville-based Quantitative Foundation donated $120 million to help start the school in what was the largest private donation the school had received in hundreds of years.
“The initial gift was just transformational,” Bourne said. “We were the first school of data science in the U.S., and it’s really enabled us to become, I think one of the best, at least in our estimation.”
Now, Quantitative Foundation is giving $20 million more to the school.
“The latest gift…from the Quantitative Foundation through Jaffray Woodriff is to really establish the second building,” Bourne said. “Our first building is already full.”
Bourne attributes the school’s rapid growth and outgrowing of its facilities to job market demand and said various industries now expect at least some data science knowledge.
“It’s become a sort of, you know, the fuel of the economy in some ways, and the students recognize it,” Bourne said.
The hundreds of students now enrolled at the School of Data Science are a testament to this demand, Bourne said.
“The interest in this is huge and because they realize that you need to have some data skills at least be data literate to actually really get almost any job,” Bourne said.
The $20-million gift will support a new building on the Emmett Ivy corridor. However, the funding came with a stipulation. The university has a 2028 deadline to use the money for the construction.
“These things take time, but it’s a very aggressive timeline,” Bourne said.
The building has a rough estimate cost of $60 million. Bourne said the expansion is worth every dime.
“We have a pretty rich research ecosystem now, so you know we’re doing a number of services to the community,” Bourne said. ”So it’s to credit all the people in the school that we’ve done so much and clearly the gifts really help.”
CORRECTION: This article has been edited from an earlier version to more accurately reflect the amount of students enrolled in the School of Data Science.
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