In its most successful fund-raising year yet, the University raised $109 million, bringing the University of Virginia campaign total to $555 million at the end of fiscal year 1996-97. The Board of Visitors and Campaign Executive Committee celebrated the campaign's attainment of the $500 million mark at a joint meeting in June.
rests on the loyalty, commitment,
and hard work of thousands of volunteers.
As the University moves past the half
billion dollar mark, President Casteen has
traveled the country to meet with alumni
and friends to make the case for the
University as the preeminent public
university in the nation.
The campaign has drawn extraordinarily high levels of support from all segments of the University community -- alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and students. This year, major gifts were designated for such diverse goals as international student fellowships, athletics, the law school grounds, programs in ethics, as well as for the unrestricted endowment and faculty salaries. Regional kickoffs have contributed to the campaign's momentum, rolling through Chicago, Roanoke, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Philadelphia this year.
University officials are now building on the record of 1996-97. New campaign co-chairs Edward C. Mitchell, Jr., of Atlanta (Col '63) and Thomas A. Saunders, III, of New York (Darden '67) have committed themselves to sustaining the progress made under the leadership of former chairman Joshua P. Darden, Jr. (Col '58). Their efforts are strengthened by Charles L. Brown (Engr '43) of Princeton, N.J., campaign vice chairman since 1993, and E. Massie Valentine (Col '56) of Richmond, newly appointed vice chairman, as they lead the campaign into the year 2000.
Campaign leaders are concentrating on a number of unmet needs, including the Special Collections Library, endowment funds for the Edgar F. Shannon Center for Advanced Studies, increased funding for graduate fellowships, and additional studio and office space in the School of Architecture. The University also is seeking additional resources to fund the basic sciences at levels comparable to those in peer institutions, as well as to further upgrade and expand facilities for the fine and performing arts.
Contributions from alumni and friends have played an important role in the University's efforts to reverse the decline of faculty salaries relative to peer institutions. A series of recent decisions by the Board of Visitors to restore
largest single monetary gift in the
University's history -- a $25 million
pledge from Carl W. Smith. Joshua
P. Darden, Jr., and Terry Holland join
Carl Smith in the Dome Room for
the presentation.
salaries to nationally competitive levels already has prompted donors to respond. The board's plan calls for spending $9 million in non-state funds over the next three years to bolster faculty salaries, followed by $4.5 million annually in privately funded supplements. The Alumni Association pledged $1 million to this effort in memory of Ann Lane Hereford (Curry '50), wife of former University President Frank L. Hereford, Jr. (Col '43, Grad '47). Individual gifts also are providing critical faculty support. Chill Perkins (Col '50) and Polly Perkins of Richmond made a three-year pledge for faculty salary enhancements in arts and sciences, and Campaign Executive Committee member David A. Harrison, III (Col '39, Law '41), created a charitable lead trust that has been used to support of this goal. A multimillion dollar bequest from the estate of Marjorie C. Davenport, wife of the late Braxton Davenport (Col '31) also has been earmarked for faculty salaries. The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation pledged $250,000 to support faculty salary enhancements for excellent teachers in arts and sciences.
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The Faculty and Staff Campaign is moving briskly forward, with every school on Grounds exceeding the expected faculty/staff participation rate. This fall, gifts from University employees resulted in full funding of the first need-based scholarship created for the children of faculty and staff who attend the University. |
Contributions to create endowed faculty chairs allow the University to recruit and retain the most eminent scholars and gifted teachers. Through the campaign, endowments have been created for 109 professorships. Among them is a new professorship in arts and sciences now held by former dean and English professor Raymond J. Nelson, who returned to full-time teaching this fall.
The changes brought by the Capital Campaign are evident everywhere around the Grounds. They can be seen most dramatically in the new law and Darden school facilities, but they have made a material difference to every school. A gift from the Theresa A. Thomas Memorial Foundation funded the School of Nursing's new intensive care simulation laboratory, where students learn skills to work with critically ill patients. At Clinch Valley College in Wise, Virginia, a half-million dollar gift from the Slemp Foundation will furnish and equip the new addition of the John Cook Wyllie Library. The Virginia Engineering Foundation received an anonymous $1 million real estate gift for the new biomedical engineering facility, which will support technological research and development leading to improved clinical care services.
The University has given high priority to preserving the academical village as evidenced by a $10 million fund-raising effort, which includes $3 million for the restoration of Pavilion VII. A number of donors have taken an active part in launching this effort. The William R. Kenan, Jr., Charitable Trust has made a challenge gift of $1 million to support restoration of Pavilion VII and issued another challenge of $500,000 to create an endowment for related educational programs. The Killgallon Foundation has contributed $100,000 to develop preservation strategies for Jefferson's Colonnades. The University is seeking support from alumni who lived on the Lawn and Ranges as students to help fund the Lawn Room Restoration program.