Celebrations begin today to mark the end of the largest fundraising campaign ever by a public university.
The Campaign for Michigan closes this weekend after exceeding its initial fundraising goal of $1 billion by an extra $300 million.
"Virtually every major goal was achieved and we're very pleased with that," said Roy Muir, associate vice president for development.
Among the major donors who will be honored is University alumnus Preston Robert Tisch, co-chair of Loew's Corp. and co-owner of the New York Giants football team.
In honor of his $7.5 million donation, there will be cemeronies today to dedicate Tisch Hall at 12:30 p.m. and the Tisch Tennis Center at 2:30 p.m.
The names of the more than 250,000 donors and the fundraising totals will be announced tomorrow during a multimedia presentation at the Power Center hosted by University alumnus Mike Wallace.
Following the announcement celebration, Wallace and University President Lee Bollinger will speak at a luncheon at the Indoor Track Building, where a wall will display the names of the donors. Both events are closed to the public.
Overall, the campaign raised $340 million in endowments, $150 million in bequest donations, $100 million in new facilities donations and $410 million in unrestricted support, which already has funded current academic programs and operations.
The campaign began in 1989 under former University President James Duderstadt in an effort to maintain the strength of the University, Muir said.
"The underlying basis for all of this was in order to maintain the academic position of the University of Michigan, it would depend on a growing bank of private support in addition to state support," Muir said.
Muir said the difference between this fundraising campaign and the University's previous fundraising efforts was the size of the goals and the comprehensiveness of the campaign.
"We asked for larger gifts, but we tried to make the case for those gifts in terms of what impact those gifts would make on the University," Muir said, adding that the campaign targeted a broad base of University alums, friends and corporations through personal solicitation.
Muir attributed the campaign's success to the University's deans. School of Music Dean Paul Boylan said his school raised $41 million.
"(It was) odius work," Boylan said. "But you do it for students, so I don't have trouble doing it."
The celebration also will feature a symposium in Tisch Hall titled "The Future of the Humanities."
"We think its an occasion to celebrate the humanities and honor Tisch for his support, especially in the humanities," said history and anthropology Prof. Tom Trautmann, one of three symposium panelists.
A symposium on sports titled "Managing Professional Sports: A Conversation Between Bon Tisch and Friends," will be held in Hale Auditorium on Saturday at 3 p.m. WDIV sports broadcaster Bernie Smilovitz will moderate the symposium.
09-25-97
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