Launching Our Great Expectations

The goal for the Great Expectations campaign was hard to miss at the event announcing the university’s initiative. The seven-year target is a lofty $1 billion—the largest fund-raising drive of a public university in the Maryland-Washington, D.C. Region.

GUESTS KNEW from the way University President Dan Mote made his entrance that Great Expectations had momentum. Aboard a Segway, Mote zoomed around the 500 guests gathered to celebrate the public launch of a landmark, seven-year fund-raising initiative for the university.

Great Expectations, The Campaign for Maryland seeks to raise $1 billion in private funding to support students, recruit and retain faculty, enhance physical facilities and library and technology resources, and reinforce excellence and innovation in academic programs.

The campaign goal makes Great Expectations the largest fund-raising drive of a public institution in the state of Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region. The announcement marked the completion of a two-year silent phase that surpassed its goal of $300 million— raising $312 million.

“Our expectations for the university, and our students, faculty and alumni who bring it to life, are very high indeed,” says Mote. “We are passionately committed to being excellent at everything we do. Our extraordinary rise over the past decade has demonstrated that we have the will, the ability and the capability to succeed. This ambitious campaign is a primary vehicle to make that happen.”

EVERY GIFT COUNTS

Fulfilling Maryland’s Great Expectations is dependent in large part on private funding from individuals and organizations. While the university is the state’s flagship institution, Maryland, like many public universities across the nation, has seen resources from the state decrease steadily over the past decade.

“More and more, our state funding is also tied to our ability to generate support from others,” said Mote in a recent message to the Maryland community.

This year’s appropriations to the university from the state government are 27 percent of the university’s overall operating budget. As the Great Expectations campaign moves forward, all gifts to the university, regardless to what program, college or department they are designated, will be counted as a campaign contribution.

“Every gift is important. Every gift makes a difference,” says Brodie Remington, vice president for University Relations. “From the $50 contribution to the Maryland Fund for Excellence to a $5,000 gift for a scholarship to a $5 million commitment for endowed chairs, all gifts move the university forward and reflect the loyalty and generosity of Maryland’s alumni and friends.”

Though the silent phase of the campaign focused primarily on large, multi-million dollar gifts, last year’s participation from alumni proved that alumni support can make the biggest difference. In 2006, more than 38,000 alumni and friends contributed $130 million in gifts supporting scholarships, faculty, new and refurbished facilities and more.

“Maryland is ready for such a bold, ambitious campaign,” says Alma Gildenhorn ’53, philanthropist and Great Expectations campaign co-chair. “We are on a very steep trajectory of academic success; and we have matched that academic success with strong volunteer leadership and an excellent fund-raising program. We have developed the donor base and capacity—including alumni, friends and prospective donors—to have great success over the next few years.”

The professionally successful trio who lead the $350 million campaign for scholarships—journalist Connie Chung ’69, technology entrepreneur Buno Pati ’86, M.S. ’88, Ph.D. ’92, and Maryland men’s basketball coach Gary Williams ’68—have demonstrated appreciation for their own Maryland educational experiences by also making significant contributions to the $1 billion Great Expectations campaign.

BUILDING ENTHUSIASM

Gildenhorn is one of several members of the University of Maryland family helping to lead and raise awareness of the fund-raising campaign. In fall of 2006 she and her husband, Joe Gildenhorn, former U.S. ambassador, named the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies, a key component to the university’s expanding Middle East Studies program (see story).

Other campaign co-chairs, with backgrounds ranging from the arts to athletics and from business to education, help to ensure that Great Expectations reaches a well-rounded audience.

William Mayer ’66, M.B.A ’67 is chair of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees’ executive committee and former dean of the business school. David Driskell, artist, curator and distinguished professor emeritus, helped to establish the university’s David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora. “If we are to achieve the university’s Great Expectations, we must build facilities for the future. Aesthetics and utility can be combined to beautify and improve the University of Maryland,” said Driskell at the campaign kick-off event.

Fellow campaign co-chairs Lowell Glazer and Barry Gossett share a passion for Maryland. Both have construction backgrounds and both are eager to build a great university.

“There’s a tradition of excellence now at Maryland,” says Gossett. “People want to be a part of it—to be part of a winner.”

Mayer, Driskell, Gildenhorn, Gossett and Glazer will spend the next five years harnessing that desire, using it to secure the university’s prominence and achieve Great Expectations.” TERP

Our Gratitude Goes Global

EVERY YEAR, the university acknowledges the generosity of the Maryland family by publishing an honor roll of donors. Rather than mailing hard copies to a limited number of households this winter, Maryland is making its honor roll available worldwide on the Web.

“Thank you to the many donors whose generous support is vital to the progress of this great university. Your confidence in our aspirations and the path we have chosen to fulfill them, your pride in our successes, and the enthusiasm you bring as partners in our march to the top fill us with optimism for the future,” says Brodie Remington, vice president for University Relations.

If you were one of the thousands who showed their Terrapin Pride with a gift to the university between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, visit www.honorroll.umd.edu to see your name. Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, Maryland’s programs have an international reach. Tapping into the power of the Internet, so does our gratitude. —MW

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