Making the largest donation in its 157-year history, Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. has announced a $10 million gift to Spelman College to provide opportunities for black women interested in business careers.

Travis J. Tatum

Spelman president Beverly Daniel Tatum and Lehman Brothers president and chief operating officer Joseph M. Gregory at Spelman

The grant, announced Oct. 17 on Spelman's campus in Atlanta, will be used to develop the Lehman Brothers Center for Global Finance and Economic Development. The center will offer an interdisciplinary curriculum, internships, scholarships, mentoring and a Chinese language program.

"I cannot imagine a better partner than an industry leader like Lehman Brothers to help us prepare our students to successfully enter an arena where they have been historically underrepresented.," Spelman President Beverly Daniel Tatum said in a press release.

Tatum and Lehman Brothers president and chief operating officer Joseph M. Gregory held an open discussion and reception on Spelman's campus on the day of their announcement. During the event, Joseph said his firm wanted to give back and put Spelman students on an equal-level playing field.

At the same time the new Lehman Center is set to open, fall 2008, Spelman is expected to also open its first "green friendly" residence hall.

"I'm so excited about it because it's really about to take Spelman, along with the dorm, into a new realm," said senior Marvina Walker, who is a Lehman Bros. intern.

This year US News & World Report ranked Spelman as the No.1 historically black college and one of the 75 top "Best Liberal Arts Colleges." The college boasts a 77 percent graduation rate%ef%bf%bdthe highest among black colleges, according to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

According to a 2006 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report, blacks make up 7 percent of officials and managers in the banking and credit subsector and 4.4 percent in the securities subsector. The New York Times reported that women make up an average of 33 percent of analysts, 25 percent of associates and 14 percent of managing directors.

Walker, who said she would intern with the company for a third time in 2008, said the firm%ef%bf%bds president met with a group of Spelman students and alumnae this summer to discuss changes they wanted to see on campus.

"To see two months later that it was actually put in place is phenomenal," Walker said.

Spelman sophomore Bethany White said the new program would provide an opportunity for students who are interested in becoming business majors, because they will no longer feel compelled to major in economics. "This will give students a chance to major in what they're interested in," White said. Morehouse junior and business-marketing major Brandon Frame said the new program is a great development for Spelman, yet it might increase existing tensions among students in other departments that need more funding.

Frame said he would cross-register at Spelman's Lehman center if the program offered a course unavailable at Morehouse. As members of the Atlanta University Center, Morehouse, Spelman, and Clark Atlanta University students often enroll in classes at neighboring institutions.

According to a New York Times report, Lehman Brothers, a global financial firm which offers financial services to corporations, governments, and high net worth individuals; is one of many Wall Street companies making large donations to colleges with historically underrepresented populations. This year Goldman Sachs donated $2 million to Morehouse College to endow the school's Goldman Sachs Leadership chair in civil and human rights.

Michelle D. Anderson , a student at Spelman College, writes for the Maroon Tiger, the Morehouse College student newspaper. To comment, please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Posted Oct. 18, 2007