University to continue efforts to fund remaining objectives
By Marvin R. Meinz
When the University officially closed the books on the 2002 calendar year, gifts and commitments to the Campaign for Washington University totaled $1,303,616,843 -- some $3 million more than the $1.3 billion goal of the campaign that is scheduled to run until June 30, 2004.
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said, "Thanks to the leadership of Sam Fox and John McDonnell, co-chairs of the campaign, and the members of the Campaign Steering Committee, to the enthusiastic efforts of our many volunteers, and to the unprecedented generosity of the more than 80,000 alumni and friends who are already participating in the campaign, we have reached this impressive milestone 18 months ahead of schedule.
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The early impact of gifts and commitments to the campaign are benefiting both the Hilltop and the Medical campuses. Among the many examples are:
• 115 new endowed professorships that are helping the University to attract and retain outstanding senior and junior scholars and teachers;
• $143.1 million in new endowment for scholarships and fellowships to help ensure that no deserving young man or woman will ever have to turn down the opportunity for a Washington University education because he or she doesn't have the money;
• New academic initiatives; for example, in cancer research at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, in international law at the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies in the School of Law, in biomedical engineering, in American Culture Studies in Arts & Sciences, and in visual arts and design; and
• New construction and renovation of existing facilities to support teaching, research and scholarship; for example, the new Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center, Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering, the Center for Advanced Medicine, and reconfigured and refurbished Bixby and Givens halls.
"Much has already been accomplished," Wrighton said, "but there are high priorities we set in Project 21 that are still to be fully funded. As my predecessor Bill Danforth often said, 'A great university is a work in progress.' That is certainly the case at Washington University."
Project 21, started in 1993, was the most intensive planning process ever undertaken by the University. The Board of Trustees, deans, faculty and the National Councils -- made up of some 300 alumni, academics and corporate leaders from across the country -- carefully examined each area of the University. They identified more than $1.5 billion in high-priority needs and opportunities necessary for the University to maximize its service both to its students and the wider world early in the 21st century.
Trustees then decided to launch the Campaign for Wash-ington University to secure the necessary resources to address those priorities.
"The importance of this campaign is not in the dollars raised, but in the opportunities it is opening up to our students and faculty," emphasized Trustee Sam Fox, chairman and chief executive officer of Harbour Group Ltd., who is heading the public phase of the campaign.
"The dollars are only enablers; the money is only important in that it enables us to do something worthwhile. We are doing that in the battle against cancer, in executive education, in biomedical engineering, in genome research, in every discipline.. . .Every school has been strengthened.
"And the closer we get to raising the $1.5 billion to address the high-priority needs identified in Project 21, the better we will be able to serve our students and society."
Wrighton said the focus during the final 18 months of the campaign will be on several continuing priorities: (1) people; (2) academic programs, student life and the libraries; (3) new construction and renovation of existing facilities; and (4) unrestricted annual support.
People
Attracting and retaining outstanding people -- faculty and students -- is an objective shared by all top research universities.
When the campaign started, the University had 138 endowed professorships, significantly fewer than many of its peer institutions. The hope is to double that number by the end of the campaign to attract, retain and support those men and women who can continue to create new knowledge and train leaders for the 21st century.
To reach that ambitious goal, 23 more endowed professorships are needed.
With more than 60 percent of undergraduates receiving financial assistance this year, and with an equally great need among graduate students, trustees set a goal of adding $175 million in new endowment for scholarships and fellowships.
Just to reach that goal, $31.9 million remains to be raised.
Academic programs, student life, libraries
Simultaneously focusing on quality education and cutting-edge research is especially costly, but that is the core of excellence at the University.
Gifts and commitments in excess of the original goal for this purpose have already been secured, but certain initiatives remain under-funded.
For example, the $15 million target for building and maintaining the University Libraries’ collections, preserving the existing collections, and providing access to electronic information resources is still some $3 million away from its goal.
New construction, renovation of facilities
Giving students an educational experience of the highest quality and providing faculty the resources most supportive of productive research and scholarship depend in part on the best possible physical environment for teaching, learning and discovery.
To that end, new facilities -- such as the McDonnell Pediatric Research Building, Alvin Goldfarb Hall for social work and the Laboratory Science Building for Arts & Sciences -- have been built.
Work is under way on the new Earth and Planetary Sciences Building, and construction of new facilities for the Sam Fox Arts Center will commence as funding for that project is secured.
Almost $150 million has already been committed for these and other projects. Approximately $75 million is still needed to complete projects under way or on the drawing boards.
Unrestricted annual support
Unrestricted gifts play an essential role in everything the University does, and the main source of those funds to support day-to-day operations comes from the Annual Fund.
During the past fiscal year, alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends provided $13.5 million through the Annual Fund. (In the fiscal year prior to the start of the campaign on July 1, 1995, support for the Annual Fund totaled $9.7 million.)
The goal is to increase that unrestricted support to $15 million annually by the end of the campaign, with at least 35 percent of alumni participating.
"Washington University is an institution widely recognized for the quality of its teaching and research, and our vision for an even better future is what is driving this campaign," said Board of Trustees Chairman John F. McDonnell, retired chairman of the board of McDonnell Douglas Corp., who headed the leadership phase of the campaign.
"We can all be extremely proud of what has already been achieved in and through this campaign, but there is so much more we can -- and must -- do to help the University realize its full potential for the good of humankind."
The leadership phase of the Campaign for Washington University began on July 1, 1995, and $541 million in gifts and commitments had been secured when public announcement of the campaign and its $1 billion goal was made on Sept. 19, 1998.
At its October 2000 meeting, the Board of Trustees voted to raise the goal to $1.3 billion.