Morgan State University Alumnus Calvin Tyler Donates $20M, the Largest Gift Received From an HBCU Alum

It’s nothing like giving back to the place where it all started! For Calvin E. Tyler, that place is Morgan State University.

The alumnus just donated $20 million to the HBCU making it the school’s largest private donation from a former student in its 154-year-history, according to a press release.

As a Morgan State student during the 1960s, Tyler studied business administration. He ultimately switched his career goals due to financial reasons and became one of the first 10 UPS drivers on the east coast.

At UPS, Tyler worked his way up through the ranks and eventually became senior vice president of operations prior to his retirement in 1998.

In 2002, Tyler and his wife Tina created the “Calvin and Tina Tyler Endowed Scholarship” at Morgan State University with a vision to provide full-tuition to students.

The Tylers made a $5 million commitment to the HBCU in 2016, making it the largest private donation in the school’s history at the time. Now, they’ve followed up and made history again. Their $20 million commitment also was recognized as the largest private contribution to any HBCU from an alum.

“Morgan is so proud to call this son and daughter of the great City of Baltimore our own,” said the president of Morgan State, David K. Wilson in a news release. “Through their historic giving, the doors of higher education will most certainly be kept open for generations of aspiring leaders whose financial shortfalls may have kept them from realizing their academic dreams.”

For Tyler, the increase in his endowment was necessary due to the impact of the pandemic on young people’s education.

“My wife and I have become keenly aware of the effect that the pandemic has had on a number of young people trying to get an education [and] we have the resources to help a lot of young people,” said Tyler in the release. “This is why we are increasing our commitment at Morgan; we want to have more full-tuition scholarships offered to young people so that they can graduate from college and enter the next stage of their life debt-free.”

Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5 in order to qualify for the Tyler Scholarship. To date, the gift has supported 222 Morgan students, 46 received full-tuition and 176 received partial scholarships.