University of Minnesota receives $3 million gift for orthopedic, foreign exchange programs

Minneapolis, Minn.

-- The University of Minnesota has been awarded a $3 million gift by the Tata Group to expand orthopedic surgery research and teaching at the school.

The India-based global business company donated the funds after a personal experience with the college by the company's chairman, Ratan Tata. The funds will be used to create an endowment for small animal orthopedic surgery and to establish the Tata Group Chair in Orthopedic Surgery. The chair will be awarded to University of Minnesota Professor Michael Conzemius, whom Tata met at the school while searching for companion animal surgical care facilities.

The gift also will be used to advance veterinary education in India by creating the school’s first formal exchange program with the Karnataka Veterinary School in Bangalore, according to the university.