NEWS

Ernst & Young LLP Makes $2 Million Gift to University of Illinois College of Business;
Gift Will Create The Ernst & Young Center for Career Advancement

URBANA, Ill., November 8, 2004 – The College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced today that Ernst & Young LLP has pledged to make a $2 million gift to support the College’s $75 million fund-raising drive. The Ernst & Young donation will be used to create a suite of offices, meeting and interview rooms, and a resource room for the College’s career advancement function. This “Ernst & Young Center for Career Advancement” will serve as the primary on-campus career center for College of Business students in all curricula. The center will be in the proposed new instructional facility for the College that is part of its Investing in Excellence campaign.

“This generous contribution is an important example of the College’s close relationship with Ernst & Young, a firm known for its excellence and leadership role in accountancy,” commented College of Business Dean Avijit Ghosh. “The generosity of our friends at Ernst & Young, which will benefit future generations of students, is particularly significant because it is the result of an initiative by alumni and friends within the firm.”

This gift, to be paid over the next few years, is being funded principally through the generosity of Ernst & Young Illini partners and staff, whose contributions are being matched by the Ernst & Young Foundation. The gift reflects the commitment of these alumni of the College to the careers of future graduates, and to Ernst & Young’s relationship with the College. The fund-raising drive was led by Tom Vogelsinger and Jim Cook, Ernst & Young partners who are both University of Illinois Accountancy graduates.

Tom Vogelsinger said, “As the number one accounting program in the country, the University of Illinois Department of Accountancy has supplied Ernst & Young with the highest quality talent for many decades. Our E&Y Illini are proud of their University of Illinois heritage, and we are all pleased to help sustain the College’s high standards for generations to come.” Jim Cook commented that, “All contributing E&Y Illini believe this gift will help ensure that future graduates seek their new careers in the finest college environment. Ernst & Young hires many Accountancy graduates of the College of Business, and we are looking forward to spending time with students in this new facility. This is a most appropriate way for E&Y to support the Investing in Excellence campaign.”

“This is a vote of confidence for what we do in the Department of Accountancy and our accomplishments in accountancy and business education,” said Ira Solomon, head of the Department of Accountancy. “Ernst & Young’s gift is a direct help toward achieving greater things in the future.”

Nationally recognized as one of the leading business schools, the College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has outstanding programs in accountancy, business administration, and finance. The College enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduates and 850 graduate students in MBA, master’s, and doctoral programs.

Investing in Excellence: The Campaign for Business Education at Illinois is a multi-year drive to provide funds to construct a new instructional facility on the Urbana campus and to double the endowment for named chairs, programmatic initiatives, research support, and student scholarships and fellowships. It also seeks to augment the College’s unrestricted Annual Fund.

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About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, is committed to restoring the public’s trust in professional services firms and in the quality of financial reporting. Its 100,000 people in more than 140 countries around the globe pursue the highest levels of integrity, quality, and professionalism to provide clients with solutions based on financial, transactional, and risk-management knowledge in Ernst & Young's core services of audit, tax, and transaction advisory services. Further information about Ernst & Young and its approach to business issues can be found at www.ey.com/perspectives. Ernst & Young refers to all the members of the global Ernst & Young organization.

The Investors in Business Education (IBE) fund is critical to the mission of the College. Through the generosity of the many alumni, friends and businesses who give regularly, the College of Business has been able to provide scholarships, recognize outstanding achievements by students and faculty and develop new courses and programs. These are the gifts that provide the day-to-day support that helps us accomplish what can, at times, seem otherwise impossible.

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