The $25 million donation that created the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in June has so far led to new email signatures, business cards and letterhead. However, five weeks after John Dyson ’65 donated $25 million to the University in honor of his father, there is still no answer to some important questions: how will this money be used and what does this mean for the AEM program?

Administrators in the new school and in CALS say it will take time to determine the answers to these questions. For now, the administrators say, they’re only certain of the school’s name: Charles H. Dyson.

“The opportunity to have this prestigious name for our school is invaluable,” said Prof. Loren Tauer, chair of the new Dyson School. “It is a well-renowned name and it is a name we are proud to have.”

The name is something that administrators say they hope to build, develop and brand, though they say it is already well-respected in the business world. Dyson helped organize the International Monetary Fund and co-founded Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp., which became one of the largest privately-held companies in the U.S..

“It will take people a while to realize who we are,” Tauer said. “Branding is an ongoing process.”

Dyson School leaders, faculty and students, however, hope to make the Dyson School mean much more than just the name.

Tauer said that once faculty and students converge on the campus in the fall, there will be a great deal of planning and meetings.

However, all there is now is speculation. John Dyson left the decision as to how the money would be spent up to the leadership of the school, which is currently scattered throughout the world.

“Summer on this campus is very quiet and it is impossible to bring people together,” Tauer said.

The naming of the school and John Dyson’s donation have been in the works for a long time, according to Susan Henry, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who has been actively seeking a donation to name the program for years.  

“These things don’t happen overnight,” she said.

Applied Economics and Management began at Cornell in 1909 as Agricultural Economics. In 2002, the name was changed to Applied Economics and Management. Though the department has now become its own school, faculty feel it still maintains its traditional connection to CALS.

“This [donation] is a recognition of years of outstanding work and outstanding students in the program,” said Prof. Edward McLaughlin, chair of the Dyson School undergraduate program. “Twenty-five million dollars is a very significant gift and we are happy that the Dyson family had the faith to recognize our potential.”  

Potential, McLaughlin and others hope, that will eventually enable the Dyson School to rival even the premier undergraduate business programs in the country, like the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

“The Wharton name has existed since 1857, so it will take a few months for the Dyson name to catch,” Prof. McLaughlin said.

Matt Burns ’14 has been telling his friends at home that he is majoring in business, worrying they will not understand the meaning of “Applied Economics and Management.” But during orientation week, a time where students are traditionally asked their names, hometowns and majors endlessly, Burns expects to switch back and forth between saying his major is AEM and that he is in the Dyson School.

“It will be interchangeable for the first year, but it will be all Dyson for the class of 2015 because that’s all that class will ever know,” he said.

As the new freshman class progresses through the school, they can expect to see changes besides just the letterhead. As the other six colleges struggle to keep programs and professors during the budget crisis, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences may feel more hopeful than the other colleges.  

“We have had a severe cutback of new hires and there has been a great deal of anxiety in the last couple years,” Dean Henry said. “This is welcome news.”