Encouraged by the extraordinary success of the Capital Campaign during its first three years, the executive committee of the Board of Visitors voted in February 1998 to increase the campaign goal to $1 billion. With this decision, the University signaled its intention to join a small group of outstanding institutions that sets the standard for excellence in higher education.
Generous donor support enables the University to compete with the best public and private institutions for the most talented faculty and students in the nation. The increased goal accommodates promising initiatives identified since the campaign's kickoff in 1995 and unmet core needs in faculty salaries, graduate fellowships, information technology, libraries, the arts, and athletics. Among other initiatives, the University hopes to fund a $15 million Jefferson Fellows Program to attract the best graduate students; renovate and expand Clark and Fayerweather halls on the main University Grounds; and create a residential college adjacent to the David A. Harrison III Law Grounds.
Several of the University's schools and programs have raised their sights. Four have increased their goals to $100 million: the School of Law, the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and the Department of Athletics. The Health Sciences Center raised its target from $125 million to $160 million, stimulated in part by the School of Nursing's decision to double its goal. Donor support and new priorities inspired the McIntire School of Commerce to triple its goal to $48 million.
The campaign has also created new opportunities for the University. It has made strong programs even stronger. The David A. Harrison III Law Grounds, a suite of new and renovated buildings funded entirely by private gifts from alumni and friends, and the nearby Darden School Grounds, are two cases in point.
|
|
|
The University Joins a Select Few When the executive committee of the Board of Visitors voted on February 25, 1998, to increase the campaign's goal to $1 billion, the University of Virginia joined only a handful of public institutions seeking this amount."The extraordinary vision and generosity of our donors have allowed us to raise our aspirations and to work toward self-sufficiency and maturity as we seek support for promising initiatives that have arisen since the campaign began three years ago," President Casteen said at the event. Casteen is pictured above (far right) with campaign vice-chair Charles L. Brown and co-chairs Thomas A. Saunders III and Edward C. Mitchell Jr. |
They are modern expressions of Jefferson's vision of scholars and students working closely together in an environment designed expressly for research and learning. These facilities have helped the School of Law and the Darden School retain their superior standing in the U.S. News & World Report national rankings. The law school ranked eighth in the most recent survey, and the Darden School placed tenth.
The University's collection of rare books and manuscripts is renowned for its depth, breadth, and significance. Among other holdings (conservatively appraised in excess of $250 million), the collection contains Thomas Jefferson's drawings of the Academical Village, one of twenty-six known copies of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, and manuscripts and first editions of such classics as Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.
The materials have been housed in cramped and outmoded facilities in Alderman Library. Private gifts will help the University create a Special Collections Library featuring climate-controlled storage, well-designed space for reading, teaching, and exhibits; state-of-the-art security systems; compact shelving; and a conservation laboratory.
The Bayly Art Museum has a number of strong collections of indigenous art from around the world. This year, businessman and philanthropist John W. Kluge added to these holdings by donating his collection of Australian aboriginal art to the University. Valued at more than $5 million, this gift encompasses well over 800 paintings and more than 700 artifacts, as well as Kluge's library on aboriginal art and an electronic catalog. The collection is considered the best of its kind outside of Australia.
The School of Medicine ranks among the nation's elite in student selectivity and reputation, but it falls behind its peers in faculty resources and research, primarily because of lack of space. Construction of a new research building is scheduled to begin in the spring. The Department of Biomedical Engineering recently won a $10.5 million grant from the Whitaker Foundation -- the largest the University has ever received from a national foundation. Some $7.5 million of the contribution, which supports the University's initiative to strengthen science and engineering departments, will be dedicated to the construction of the new $41 million biomedical engineering and medical science building.
Preserving the University's distinguished faculty is another campaign priority. When campaign co-chairman Thomas Saunders (Darden '67) and his family issued a $1.5 million challenge to fund new endowed professorships for the School of Architecture, the School of Nursing, and the Curry School of Education, donors were quick to respond.
In less than two weeks, they helped create four professorships in architecture, three in education, and two in nursing. The Saunders family has been among the campaign's most generous and creative participants, committing more than $20 million for a variety of purposes.
A year after launching a fund-raising campaign to support the expansion of its football stadium, the athletics department has reached a significant milestone in the effort. The University has received $11 million toward a $20 million fund-raising goal to match former Board of Visitors member Carl W. Smith's (Col '51) challenge grant for the Athletics Capital Campaign. Anthony and Susan Markel of Richmond contributed $1 million toward this goal, as have several anonymous donors.
|
|
|
Preserving the Past Restoration of the University's oldest building, Pavilion VII, is under way thanks to a$1 million challenge grant from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust of Chapel Hill. Announced in the summer of 1997, the Kenan gift had to be matched by July 1, 1998. The University met the challenge a month ahead of the deadline, thanks to a broad base of support from alumni, friends, and organizations. Among the project's benefactors are several anonymous donors who made six-figure gifts for the restoration, the Garden Club of Virginia, members of the Colonnade Club, alumni in the Class of 1963, and a private Richmond foundation. Pavilion VII, built in 1817, served as the University's first library and as the meeting place for the Board of Visitors before the Rotunda was completed.
|
The success of the University's campaign refiects the loyalty of its alumni and the widespread appreciation of those who have come in contact with the University as parents of students, patients in the hospital, and partners in research. Nearly 114,000 donors have participated in the campaign, making nearly 332,500 gifts and pledges. A total of 878 donors have made contributions of $100,000 or more, and more than 115 donors have made commitments of $1 million or more. Among the most noteworthy received this year:
William M. Slaughter (Law '66) of Birmingham directed more than $5.1 million into a charitable remainder trust for the law school's campaign.
The late George Terrien (Law '51) of Greenwich bequeathed $3.3 million to the law school in memory of his wife, Georgeann.
George A. L. David (Darden '67) of West Hartford and president of the Darden School Foundation Trustees, committed $1 million to be matched by the Batten Family Challenge for Entrepreneurial Leadership. He also made a $500,000 bequest to Darden.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gave a grant of $1.5 million to provide ongoing support for the School of Medicine's Virginia Generalist Initiative.
Joanne and Jerry Robinson (Col '44) of Charlottesville have established four new charitable remainder trusts for arts and sciences valued at more than $1.2 million. This is in addition to an earlier commitment of $1.5 million. The Robinsons have also made a generous provision for arts and sciences in their estate plans.
The late Priscilla Bonner Woolfan of Beverly Hills bequeathed the School of Medicine $2.5 million to create a professorship and fund endowment in the Division of Personality Studies.
A bequest from the estate of the late Charles I. Fuller Jr. (Med '45) of Fort Lauderdale will fund a professorship in neonatology and scholarships at Clinch Valley College. Distributions from his bequest exceed $2 million.
Calvin Crum of Santa Ana has made a $1 million bequest to the McIntire School of Commerce to create a scholarship endowment.
The late Anne S. Brodie of Charlottesville bequeathed more than $1 million to create a teaching professorship in the School of Medicine as well as a fund for education and research.
Through the good offices of James C. Slaughter (Col '49, Law '51) of New York City, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation has pledged $750,000 to create an endowment fund for care of the Law School's Slaughter Hall. This brings gifts to the law school from Mr. Slaughter and the Goldsmith Foundation to more than $5 million.
Betty and John Wingfield of Charlottesville used a Charlottesville family estate to create a charitable remainder trust that will endow a scholarship for the benefit of nursing students.
