NRI couple gifts biggest bounty to USF

An $18.5 mn donation and a state match, totaling $34.5 mn, will put USF in the world map of research centres.

An Indian-American doctor couple presented a gift worth $34.5 million to the University of South Florida which will help USF to figure in the world map of research universities.

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The university will use the money, the biggest donation in its 49-year history, from Dr Kiran Patel and his wife, Dr Pallavi Patel, to build the Kiran C Patel Center for Global Solutions on USF's Tampa campus.

"The world is shrinking and becoming global," Patel, 57, said during an interview to local media on Thursday. "So it's time to think global."

The donation from Dr Kiran Patel and Dr Pallavi Patel will be used to build the Kiran C Patel Center for Global Solutions on USF's Tampa campus

The $62.5-million Patel center will become a place where foreign leaders gather and researchers study issues such as global hunger and international trade, university leaders said.

The Center, which school officials touted as the first of its kind in the state, will brainstorm solutions for international issues - health, economic development, safety and the environment. The center will have an executive director, visiting fellows and graduate students.

It will go a long way toward making USF one of the nation's top 50 public research universities, USF President Judy Genshaft was quoted by local media. "This (the donation) is huge... This will set the university apart from other universities in the world."

"I really see this as a very unique opportunity for the university. And in some ways, it is a challenge to make this the best in the world," he added.

The university is celebrating the gift from Patel, a Tampa cardiologist who was born in Africa, educated in India and made millions as a health care executive in Florida.