CORAL GABLES, FL – Today, October 16, 2003, the University of Miami will announce a billion-dollar comprehensive campaign, the most ambitious and wide reaching in its history. The campaign will have a transformative impact on the University's 12 schools and colleges and the community it serves.
The goal of the campaign, $1 billion by mid-2007, makes Momentum: The Campaign for the University of Miami the largest campaign announced by any university in the state of Florida. UM is one of only 25 universities nationally seeking that amount.
To date, the campaign has already raised $552 million, $275 million of which was raised this year, and is earmarked for endowments, program support, and capital projects. The overarching goals of the campaign are to recruit the most promising students and provide scholarship opportunities; create endowed teaching chairs; attract the most gifted professors, scholars and technicians from around the globe; endow new interdisciplinary centers and institutes; and enhance research initiatives across the University's campuses.
At the launch event, the University of Miami will celebrate its benefactors by inducting them into
donor societies, and announce the creation of two new
donor societies. Twenty-one members will be inducted into the Miami Society, which recognizes those who have committed a cumulative $10 million or more, and The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, the Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation and the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis will be inducted into the Millennium Society, which honors those who have contributed a cumulative $50 million or more to the University. Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost will be honored for their individual gift of $33 million to the University, which names the School of Music in their honor.
“The University of Miami has an unprecedented opportunity to establish itself as one of the nation's top research universities,” said campaign chair Dr. Frost, who serves as chair of the University's Board of Trustees. “The University of Miami has played a significant role in educating hundreds of thousands of people, encouraging innovation, serving as one of the area's largest employers, and caring for the people of South Florida.”
“In the next 10 years, the University of Miami will play an even more prominent role in educating our young professionals, generating knowledge and attracting the intellectual, creative, and financial capital needed to forge ahead,” said Dean C. Colson, (J.D. '77), a partner in the Coral Gables law firm Colson Hicks Eidson, who is serving as executive vice chair of UM's campaign and is vice chair of UM's Board of Trustees. “The success of the campaign will resonate throughout the University, shaping young lives and changing the world,” he added.
The campaign centers on people and programs, not just bricks and mortar. Priorities for the campaign have been shaped over years of strategic planning by administrators, trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends of the University.
“This campaign is about people,“ said University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala. “It is an opportunity for those who care for the University of Miami to step up and help us accelerate progress, empower learning and discovery, and intensify our impact on people in our city, across the country, and around the world. Campaign gifts to endowments, facilities and programs will open doors of higher education for all students and ensure their success in learning and life.”
Gift announcements and updates may be found online throughout the campaign by visiting www.miami.edu/campaign .
The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world.
|
