Wallenberg Foundation strengthens Swedish-Stanford alliance

The Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation made a $2 million grant to SCIL this fall, strengthening the bonds between the university and SCIL's original supporters. The five-year commitment is combined with support from the Offices of the President and Provost, continuing a collaborative effort to build the best innovative technology-rich teaching and learning environment.

In his recent visit to Wallenberg Hall, Johan Stalhånd, executive director of the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, founded in 1963, spoke about the partnership between Stanford and Sweden:

Q: Tell us about your background and your role at the foundation.

A: My professional background is as a lawyer and a judge in Sweden. Originally I was recruited to join the legal department in a Stockholm bank that grew worldwide. During my 27 years with that bank, I worked closely with many members of the Wallenberg family. I became legal advisor to most of them and that's how we began.

My principal job today is as managing director of the company that was formed to administer the 26 Wallenberg foundations. Some are family foundations, but most are larger foundations with charitable purposes. I am operating a company where we manage all the legal and financial services for these foundations.   The purpose of the foundations, although they might have different scopes, is in principle that they should give grants to scientific research in education.

Q: How did the relationship between Stanford and the Wallenbergs begin?

A: Stig Hagstrom (professor emeritus in mechanical engineering and co-director of SCIL) has always played a very big role. His relationship with the universities in Sweden and his personal ties with the family made the Wallenbergs interested in doing things here. It was his suggestion and also the chairman, Peter Wallenberg, who has a genuine interest in education, which steered the project to be what it is today.

Q: What is unique about the Stanford-Sweden connection and their collaborative work?

A: When speaking at the dedication of Wallenberg Hall, Peter Wallenberg said that the teaching process in Sweden started with priests in the various churches standing high up looking down on the people they were speaking to. That was one way of lecturing or communicating, but he thought that the time had come for a change. So his hope is still that the new way of teaching and learning, combined with the new technology, could be introduced not only in Sweden, although we want this to be disseminated in the Swedish universities, but to educators around the world in grades from kindergarten through 12. We hope that schools will adapt to the new learning process that are developed here at Wallenberg Hall, and that the rest of the world can share in what we learn about the importance of exploring the best means of educating young ones.

Q: How do you describe Wallenberg Hall when you are home?

I start with trying to describe Stanford and Stanford's unique position in the university world. I introduce what a wonderful campus it is, then I talk about the Valley and how well placed on the beautiful campus is this building named Wallenberg Hall.

Also I tell people what I found after talking to the professors here and to (former university president) Donald Kennedy. They said to look here in front of Wallenberg Hall at all the bicycles and how there are more here than anywhere on campus. I participated in a class on Hebrew and saw how good the technology was. I point out that although the professor is very good, she needed the technology to do everything she wanted to do.

Q: Have people in Sweden heard of Wallenberg Hall?

A: You could say in the university world they would have heard about Wallenberg Hall and they are curious about the mere fact that the Wallenberg Foundation has put money into a project abroad. I try to stress it is not just because we like Stanford and America, but because we want Swedish universities to benefit. It is not only that we hope to share what we learn from the work at Wallenberg Hall, but also that we have created a liaison between faculty in Sweden and the U.S. through the contact center we have established for visiting scholars.

Q: Moving forward, what is the relationship between Stanford and Sweden?

A: We are proud and very happy that Stanford has contributed matching funds to keep the building in good shape. It is very clear for this period starting now that it is going to be a very good five-years. If it's fantastic and everything we hope takes place, it will fly on its own.

Q: What is the long-term goal?

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