(New York, NY – April 29, 2002) One of Parsons School of Design's most prominent alumni, the preeminent designer Donna Karan, has made an endowment of $1 million to the School to create the Stephan Weiss Visiting Lectureship in Business Strategy & Negotiation. The gift was made in honor of Ms. Karan's late husband and business partner, Stephan Weiss.

The endowment will fund an annual program of lectures at Parsons by leaders in international design and business. The program officially kicks off with an invitation-only lecture by Yves Carcelle, president of LVMH, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the Paris-based luxury conglomerate, on Monday, May 6, 2002 at 6 PM.

In designating this gift to Parsons, Karan signals a message to design students about the importance of buttressing creative vision with a strong business sense. The lecture program is a fitting tribute to Weiss, who helped build Donna Karan's fashion empire and who was highly regarded for his business acumen and effective strategies as a negotiator. Weiss passed away last summer after a long battle with cancer.

"Stephan's innovative vision and leadership of our company steered it to its long-term success," said Donna Karan. "He approached business as a creative challenge. I wanted to create a lectureship in his honor to give a forum for today's visionaries to share their insights with tomorrow's leaders. This is the kind of series in which Stephan would have loved to have participated."

Stephan Weiss co-founded Donna Karan International with his wife in 1984. An accomplished visual artist, he had no formal business training, yet went on to cultivate and direct one of the most successful American fashion houses in history. Weiss was instrumental in every significant venture that Donna Karan International undertook: launching new brands; structuring new companies; signing new licenses; establishing in-house legal and creative departments; and devising its computer design technology.

Weiss was involved in the business all the way form taking the company public in 1996 to negotiating its sale in 2001 to LVMH, which produces designer clothing, accessories and fragrances including Louis Vuitton, Celine and Christian Dior brands. Donna Karan is LVMH's first and only major American designer label.

In acknowledging Karan's gift, New School University President Bob Kerrey said, "The Stephan Weiss Visiting Lectureship in Business Strategy & Negotiation will have an enormous impact on generations of Parsons students, enabling us to give them the benefit of learning from some of the most innovative business leaders around the globe."

Parson School of Design Dean Randy Swearer added, "Our goal at Parsons School of Design is to synthesize knowledge, synchronizing outstanding design with the art of management. In so doing, we can teach the next generation of design industry leaders to see the dynamic interrelation of things as Stephan Weiss did. We are extremely grateful to Donna Karan for her generosity, her passion, and her vision in helping us realize this distinguished program in Stephan's memory."

Karan has been an active supporter of Parsons since graduating from the School's Fashion Design Program. She has since served as a guest critic in the Fashion Design Program; has cultivated and mentored students through internship opportunities; has been an honoree at the School's annual Fashion Benefit; and serves on its Board of Governors.

The Stephan Weiss Lectures will help Parsons develop leaders who can act effectively in both the marketplace and the public forum. The lectures will be part of Parsons' Design and Management Program, a unique and relatively new course of study at Parsons that explores the role of design in a social, cultural and business context and awards its graduates a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree. The program has evolved since its beginnings in the early 1980s as a series of fashion merchandising classes into a highly cultivated professional degree program that serves over 250 students.

Parsons School of Design, a division of New School University, is one of the nation's oldest and largest colleges of art and design. Nearly 2,800 degree-seeking students majoring in a dozen fields come from 45 states and 60 countries around the world. The internationally regarded school has produced such notable alumni as Carrie Donovan, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, among others. Parsons has campuses in Greenwich Village and Midtown Manhattan, as well as affiliate schools in France, Japan, Korea, and the Dominican Republic.

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Press contacts:
For Donna Karan International: Patti Cohen, (212) 789-1857
Parsons School of Design: Susan Ebersole, (212) 229-8950
New School University, Gloria Gottschalk, (212) 229-5667, ext. 239