UNH hits the halfway mark
in capital campaign
By Kim Billings
UNH
News Bureau
The University of New Hampshire's capital campaign, The Next Horizon:
The Campaign for the University of New Hampshire, has reached the halfway
mark.
As of last week, more than $50 million had been contributed to the most
ambitious capital campaign in UNH's history, and what is being called
the most ambitious public campaign in the history of the state of New
Hampshire.
"Reaching the halfway mark of $50 million is a tremendous milestone
in this campaign. It gives us energy for all the work in the months to
come," says UNH President Joan Leitzel. "This five-year campaign
is still very young and we need everyone's help, but the momentum has
been outstanding."
Young P. Dawkins, III, president of the UNH Foundation, and major gift
officers are traveling around the country meeting with donors. "It's
not just about having your name on a building, or on a room, or on an
endowed chair in the space sciences," Dawkins says. "It's about
the future of public education in New Hampshire and what it can mean for
the next generations of scholars and learners." And, Dawkins adds,
it takes all kinds of gifts. "They all count," he emphasizes.
From an amazing $10 million gift to fund UNH's marine sciences; gifts
from New Hampshire-based foundations that support renovations at the UNH-Manchester
library located in the old Amoskeag Mills; a "thank you" gift
to the Whittemore School of Business and Economics Scholarship Fund from
two recent alums on the occasion of their wedding; and corporate support
such as a recent $175,000 gift from Simplex Technologies, to support the
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping.
"Friends and alumni have an opportunity to have a profound impact
on this university at a critical time in its history," says Leitzel.
And it is critical: while UNH is ranked last in the nation for public
funding of higher education, it also attracts world-class scholars to
teach and conduct their research here. New Hampshire is one of the wealthiest
states in per capita income, yet ranks near the bottom in charitable giving.
"This campaign is going to make a world of difference to the University
of New Hampshire," Leitzel says.
April 19, 2000
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