Jon Winkelried, AB’81, MBA’82

Jon Winkelried made a $5 million gift in support of student scholarships and endowed professorships in the College and the Graduate School of Business as part of the Chicago Initiative.

Why I give to the University of Chicago

I think the University of Chicago is a unique institution. Chicago’s approach to education, its approach to research, its approach to academic discipline are unparalleled and need to be perpetuated. I know many people who went to other great schools, all of them terrific, but I really do think the University of Chicago is unique and worthy of our support.

How I support the University

I focus my support on scholarships and endowed professorships in the College and the Graduate School of Business. I support scholarships because I would not have been able to attend Chicago without one. I support endowed professorships because the faculty defined my experience at the University. The professors at Chicago have a unique way of looking at the world, and they really opened my eyes. They helped me to become more analytical and rigorous, and taught me to solve problems in interesting ways.

I would encourage all alumni to support scholarships and professorships. You need to have the awesome buildings and great architecture, but it’s the human capital that sets Chicago apart.

Why I chose Chicago

I’m originally from Millburn, New Jersey. Somebody suggested I apply to the University of Chicago and though I was applying to almost all East Coast schools, Chicago sounded like an interesting, impressive place. I also needed financial aid to go to school. When I got my responses back from the schools I applied to, I got into some schools that didn’t offer me any real aid. But I got a letter from the University of Chicago, before I even got my admissions letter, telling me that Chicago was offering me a very significant fellowship. It covered my entire tuition, and I hadn’t even been admitted yet! So I figured that was a pretty good sign. Shortly after that, I got my admissions letter, and I went to visit campus. I got fooled, because it was an absolutely gorgeous spring day, and I decided to go.

Interesting experiences at Chicago

I will never forget the day I got my first “C.” I was a first-year at the College, and I was enrolled in an introductory physics class. For the first few weeks of that course, I was studying like I studied in high school. I thought I did well on the exam and then I got a “C.” I had never gotten anything like a “C” before in my life. I realized I was taking the wrong approach. I collected all my books from Pierce Hall, where I lived, and I took them to the library and I committed to myself that I wasn’t going to leave the library until I was completely caught up with all of my courses. That’s what I did.

That day changed my entire life. I figured out that doing well at the University of Chicago wasn’t just a matter of listening in class and then regurgitating what I had heard. A Chicago education was about absorbing information and looking at the world in a different way.