It took more than a century for Carnegie Mellon University to settle on an official mascot. Getting the living embodiment required far less waiting.

That's because, the school yesterday announced, comedian Bill Cosby is giving Carnegie Mellon its first live mascot -- a Scottish terrier.

Word of the gift comes less than a year after Carnegie Mellon, whose origins date to 1900, announced that its long-popular-but-never-officially-recognized mascot would finally get its due. Before anointing the Scottish terrier as its icon, a task force weighed everything from robots to bagpipers.

School officials have said they hope the "Scottie dog" will engender greater enthusiasm among university students and other supporters. Carnegie Mellon yesterday released a brief statement from the entertainer in which he noted the importance of students having a life outside their studies.

"The dog raises one's self-esteem," he said.

The dog Mr. Cosby is donating is from a Canadian breeder in Calgary. Civil and environmental engineering professor Larry Cartwright will assume ownership of the dog and train it in the months leading up to its campus debut this fall.

Mr. Cosby delivered last year's commencement address at Carnegie Mellon and afterward got the idea for the gift, school officials said. During the commencement, he approached the podium walking Murray, a Scottish terrier that belongs to Dr. Cartwright.

School leaders say 78 percent of the student body favored the mascot at the time it was chosen and 25 percent of the 400 alumni who responded to a survey believed the Scottish terrier already was the school's official mascot.