Sidney R. Knafel '52, MBA '54, has committed $20 million to Harvard, $15 million of which will support the creation of a major center for government and international studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), with links to international programs throughout the University. The complex, to be named for Knafel, will comprise new and newly renovated space designed to encourage collaborative approaches to the study of issues that cut across different regions of the world.

"Sid Knafel has been closely involved in Harvard's effort to achieve an even higher level of quality, an even broader reach, and a more integrated approach in our programs of international studies," said President Neil L. Rudenstine. "The new complex will not only provide important new facilities for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences but also bring individuals from various parts of Harvard, studying different nations and regions, into closer working relationships. It will help our faculty and students develop transregional or global perspectives on any number of issues facing a wide range of societies - issues such as the emergence of new democratic institutions, or the interplay of religion and politics, or the phenomenon of ethnic or racial strife, or the environmental impact of economic development, to name only a few.

"Sid Knafel's extraordinary generosity and leadership will enable us to move forward with this effort," Rudenstine added. "I am thrilled by what he has done to launch us, and it is wonderfully fitting that the new complex will be named for him. There is more work to do before this important project can be fully realized, but Sid has made it possible for us to take the first major step toward turning plans and dreams into reality."

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles praised Knafel's loyalty and service to Harvard: "Sid Knafel is one of our best-informed and most generous alumni leaders. He and his wife, Susie, have been so deeply involved in the international activities of the FAS and Sid has responded to our needs in an extraordinary way. I am grateful for his magnificent support, for his good counsel, and for the enthusiasm about the work of the faculty that he inspires in others."

Longtime Interest in

International Affairs at FAS

Knafel is currently chair of the Overseers' Visiting Committee to the Center for International Affairs (CFIA). "The Center for International Affairs is a wonderful, vibrant core of thinking that combines policy and program, the theoretical and the practical," he said. "It's changed even in the period of my involvement to encompass both graduate and undergraduate students much more than the research centers did in the past."

"Quite apart from his role as a donor, Sid has contributed to many important advances at the CFIA with a wonderful combination of vision and common sense," said Jorge I. Dominguez, director of the CFIA and Clarence Dillon Professor of International Relations. "With his persistent questioning, he has stimulated our thinking about how to facilitate and foster graduate and undergraduate students' research activity in concert with faculty research. He helps shape connections both within the CFIA and between the CFIA and other parts of the University.

"And he always keeps in the forefront of our discussions and plans the primary goals of better research, a superior community of scholars, and stronger links between research activities and the training of graduate and undergraduate students."

Knafel hosted the Harvard International Weekend in September 1995, an event attended by more than 100 alumni and FAS faculty to discuss international affairs. In the early 1990s, he served as chair of an ad hoc group of alumni and faculty that examined international aspects of Harvard's needs and established priorities before The University Campaign was launched.

"Sid Knafel is one of the most thoughtful members of the Harvard community," said Robert D. Putnam, Stanfield Professor of International Peace and former director of the Center for International Affairs.

"For nearly a decade, he has been deeply engaged in our strategic planning for the future of international affairs here. The shape of our activities already bears the marks of his wise counsel. With Susie, Sid has offered friendship and encouragement to many of us here. Sid has, in short, been a major contributor of intellectual and social capital to this institution, and with this extraordinary gift, he will leave his mark as well on our physical capital.

"Generations of future Harvard students and scholars will be better placed to explore our ever-changing world, thanks to his vision and generosity."

"Having been involved in the FAS's international affairs programs, I thought a gift for government and international studies was a natural opportunity for me," remarked Knafel. "And it has the additional advantage of freeing up space for the economics department in Littauer, not unimportant to me, as a former economics concentrator!"

Not limiting himself to international studies issues, Knafel has long been actively engaged as an alumni leader. He is a member of the Committee on University Resources (COUR) Campaign Executive Committee, chairs the New York Major Gifts Steering Committee, and is vice chair of the Harvard College Class of 1952.

Previously, he served on the Visiting Committee to the College, guiding it as chair from 1987 to 1992.

Knafel spoke of his main motivation by adding, "At the heart of what I'm doing is an absolutely ardent belief in the importance of Harvard University. It is the one institution in the world that, as a point of fact, establishes the standard for higher education. We must sustain higher education and I'm delighted to have the capacity to make this gift."

A Hub for Social Sciences

Located northeast of the Yard near Coolidge Hall, the Knafel Center will serve as a hub for the social sciences. The project will achieve a number of goals, including the creation of space for new faculty, for teaching, for graduate students to study and meet, and for research activity.

"I shall soon appoint a Faculty Planning Committee, and will consult with members of the community as our plans develop," said Knowles.

One major feature of the Knafel Center will be an expanded library. A data center will provide a central research facility for faculty and students, a critical element considering that the rapid growth in the use of complex data is demanding new techniques for research in government and international studies.

New classrooms will also be incorporated into the complex, reflecting the increasingly participatory nature of classroom discussion.

Government and economics are now the two largest concentrations at Harvard and the success and growing international reputation of these two departments have caused severe space shortages.

"I think it's a terrific plan," reported Knafel. "Neil deserves credit for fostering the idea of establishing a major center for intellectual activity in international affairs, rather than just creating new space to alleviate the serious crowding."

Sidney and Susan Knafel live in New York City, where he is a venture capital financier.

Knafel has successfully invested in small privately owned companies in industries ranging from cable television to cellular telephones, biotechnology, and computer software.

He said: "I try to get the most leverage possible in all that I do, from business to philanthropy." Not surprisingly, his current gift will have an impact far beyond the FAS.

"It's vital to involve faculty from the Business School, the Law School, and the Kennedy School, as well as from other Boston-area institutions," Knafel asserted. "While our research centers and the Government Department will be located together, we must have no walls between them and other scholars."