June 16, 2002

'U' Focuses on Last Year of Campaign as Initial Goal is Reached

What: U's Campaign Minnesota reaches goal
Who: Mark Yudof, president
Robert Bruininks, executive vice president and provost and interim president
Russ Bennett, campaign chair
Contacts: Martha Douglas, University Foundation, (612) 624-3333
Amy Phenix, University News Service, (612) 625-8510

Minneapolis / St. Paul--The University of Minnesota has announced priorities for the final year of Campaign Minnesota, the state's largest private fund-raising campaign ever, which is scheduled to end on June 30, 2003. As of April 30, $1.327 billion has been raised, putting the campaign over its goal of $1.3 billion a year ahead of schedule.

Campaign Minnesota is the sixth largest campaign among public universities. Support for the campaign has been broad, including 190,000 donors--39 percent of whom are university alumni. The campaign has brought in 271 gifts of $1 million or more.

"The campaign has contributed to the wonderful momentum taking place across the university, and completing every goal will help to sustain it," said Executive Vice President and Provost Robert Bruininks, who was named interim president last Friday. "Importantly, the successful completion of the campaign will give the new university president a wonderful foundation to build upon."

Student support

The centerpiece for the last year of the campaign will be to raise the $38.5 million still needed for undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships and enrichment opportunities such as study abroad.

"Completing the student support goal is a top priority for the university," said Russ Bennett, a 1952 graduate and volunteer campaign chair. "Students are at the core of the university's mission. The campaign has made a giant step toward helping us attract the best students and ease the burden of rising tuition, but more remains to be done."

Undergraduate tuition increased on average 13 percent this year and is expected to rise next fall by 16 percent across all campuses. Scholarship funds help mitigate the impact of these tuition increases on talented and needy students.

The campaign has quadrupled the amount of privately funded scholarships and fellowships available to students, but the Twin Cities campus is still at the bottom of the Big Ten in the percentage of students receiving merit-based scholarships, and other university campuses are equally challenged for resources. More money is also needed for scholarships to assist students with financial need, which, combined with other measures, will help the university improve its four-year graduation rate.

Libraries

University Libraries need another $5 million in gifts before the campaign ends. Funding is needed for building and maintaining expensive and rare collections, and expanding technology and services for libraries on all university campuses.

"University libraries are a critical resource for the entire state. Our libraries are our intellectual crossroads, and the university's excellence in research and teaching depends upon their strength," said Bruininks. "But today they must meld traditional resources with digital information to create a resource that is available to students and scholars any time, anywhere, and this poses a huge financial challenge."

Campus and college needs

The third priority is to fund the remaining needs for individual campuses, colleges and programs, half of which have raised more than 80 percent of their dollar goals. These funds support a variety of needs, such as faculty support, research or strategic investments by a chancellor or dean to respond to immediate challenges or opportunities.

Campaign progress to date

The success of the campaign illustrates broad support among alumni, friends and businesses for the long-term health of the university. Support for faculty has been high, with $288 million raised to create 88 endowed chairs. In addition, $462 million for research is spurring advances in new media, microbial and plant genomics, biotechnology, life sciences, digital technology, design, agricultural research and medicine.

Other highlights include $56 million raised from 8,278 faculty and staff members. "The generosity of university faculty and staff has been inspiring," said Gerald Fischer, president and CEO of the University of Minnesota Foundation, which provides university-wide leadership for the campaign. "This level of giving demonstrates an extraordinary commitment and is unusually high for any university."

Campaign officials began a special effort this past year to reach out to all alumni to give everyone an opportunity to participate. "We are inviting all alumni to be part of this historic campaign," said Bennett. "I believe that what we do now will determine whether Minnesota will continue to have a great research university that our children and grandchildren can attend."

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