The Ahuja Foundation donated $10 million to Cleveland State University to transform the school’s business college, which will be renamed the Ahuja College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

The gift was announced on Oct. 14 by CSU President Laura Bloomberg during CSU’s annual State of the University address. The Ahuja Foundation, based in Naples, Fla., was started by the Ahuja family and will fund a comprehensive overhaul of all undergraduate and graduate business programs at CSU, while also providing advanced learning environments to reflect the advancements in AI and other emerging technologies worldwide, according to a news release.

The gift will also help financially support students as they learn, connect with employers and begin their careers, and it makes the Ahujas the largest lifetime donors in CSU’s history.

“We are truly honored by the Ahuja Foundation’s incredible generosity – and we are inspired by it,” Bloomberg said in the release. “This gift will transform business education in Northeast Ohio. The Ahuja College of Business and Entrepreneurship will prepare our students not only for the business world as it is today, but for the one being reshaped by AI and other technologies.”

CSU’s business college, which enrolls 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students, will have access to new and expanded programs, to prepare them for their future workplaces that are continually being shaped by innovations, and corporate partnerships that will grow their professional networks before they graduate.

Graduates of the college will leave with the work-based experience that shapes the trajectory of a career, and as a result, Northeast Ohio employers will gain talented employees who possess cutting-edge skills in new business trends and technologies, according to the release.

Monte Ahuja and his wife, Usha, both graduates of CSU, along with their family name, will be recognized by the university for its years of philanthropy and commitment to CSU’s business programs as the CSU board of trustees will meet to approve a plan to rename the Monte Ahuja College of Business to the Ahuja College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

“The Ahuja Foundation and the Ahuja family is proud to support Cleveland State University and its College of Business,” Monte Ahuja said in the release. “My time as a CSU student was instrumental in my career, and we want to give many more students that same transformational experience, so they can go on to lead and build businesses in Northeast Ohio and beyond.”

The Ahuja family has also pledged an annual gift of $100,000 for faculty excellence and innovation, helping CSU attract, retain and support the college’s faculty.

This gift will recognize faculty members who serve as outstanding ambassadors for the college through groundbreaking research, exceptional mentorship and academic expertise.

“When we recognize and reward excellence in our faculty leaders, we inspire others to follow their lead,” Bloomberg said.

Monte Ahuja developed the business concept that would become Walton Hills-based Transtar Industries, which he founded in 1975 and built into a global leader in transmission and drivetrain-related parts, while pursuing his MBA at CSU. He now serves as CEO and chairman of MURA Holdings, a financial service and investment company in Beachwood.

Throughout his business career, he stayed involved in the campus. He served as a member of the university’s board of trustees from 1991 to 2000, including a six-year term as board chair. In 2011, he and Usha made a personal donation of $10 million to CSU, and in recognition of their gift, the board of trustees voted to approve the name of the Monte Ahuja College of Business.

The Ahujas founded the Ahuja Endowed Scholarship Fund, which benefits undergraduate and graduate students, in 1992, and it has been awarded to over 1,500 students at CSU. The Ahujas also established the Monte Ahuja Endowed Chair in Global Business in 2019, which recognizes and supports the work of a professor pursuing groundbreaking new research areas and educational programs in the college. That position is currently held by Rama Jayanti, a CSU professor of marketing.

“Monte Ahuja and the Ahuja family have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to Cleveland State and, most importantly, to our students,” Timothy Cosgrove, chair of the CSU board of trustees, said in the release “Their generosity over the years has changed lives, opened doors and created opportunities for generations of students. This remarkable gift builds on that legacy and is another powerful expression of their belief in our students, in Cleveland State and in the future of Northeast Ohio.”