Chandrika Tandon

On October 15, 2015, NYU announced that its engineering school was renamed to be the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in recoginition of the $100 million gift made to the school by Chandrika Tandon. 

Chandrika Tandon is an Indian-American businesswoman who was previously the first Indian-American woman to be elected president at the bulge-bracket consulting firm McKinsey and Company. In 1992 she left McKinsey to form her own advisory and investment firm, Tandon Capital Associates. Tandon is also an avid champion for education, serving as NYU's Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chair of the President’s Global Council, Chair of the Board of NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, Trustee of the NYU Langone Health System, and a member of the Board of Overseers at the NYU Stern School of Business.

As seen by her accolades, Tandon thrived as a member of the financial world but never felt like she was in love with what she did. She longed for something more fulfulling even though she experienced such success. In her search for self-satisfaction, Tandon rediscovered her childhood love for music and singing. In her pursuit of music, Tandon has released four albums; one of them, Soul Call, was nominated for a Grammy (chandrikatandon.com).

The naming of the Tandon School of Engineering sparked controversy amongst those associated with the previous Polytechnic University. As shown above, Tandon had no connection to the field of engineering or Poly and was to receive the naming rights in exchange for just the donation. Alumnus were furious that over 150 years of tradition and engineering prestige were to be wiped away due to a donation. ("How Much For a Name") Out of all the honorees presented in this exhibit, Chandrika Tandon was the only one with zero affiliation to Polytechnic University. Her only connection was the check that she wrote. 

Additionally, the naming of the Tandon School was the only one that occurred after Polytechnic was acquired by NYU. Every naming prior to this acquisition held significance to the institution of Polytechnic that was more than just financial, as the honorees were all associated with the university. The process of this naming presented the shift of attitude of the board of the school of engineering as the ownership moved from Polytechnic to NYU. Clearly, management from NYU had a more business-like approach to running the institution.