The University's Capital Campaign has raised $957 million as of Aug. 31, President John T. Casteen III told the Faculty Senate yesterday.
The $957 million total includes $840 million in cash gifts and pledges and $117 in future support, Casteen said.
Director of Development Communications William Sublette said the last few months have been particularly successful in bringing the University closer to its goal of $1 billion by Dec. 31, 2000.
"Between July 1 and July 31 this year, the Campaign raised $10.3 million and between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31 it raised $9.7 million," Sublette said.
It is unusual for the contributions to keep coming in at such a rate this late in a campaign of this type, Casteen said.
The numbers demonstrate "cultivation of a large population of donors," he said. "We expected it to taper off."
Also at the meeting, Faculty Senate Chairman David T. Gies announced that this year's Harrison Awards will be given out as grants for undergraduate students who will work with a faculty member on a project.
The awards are designed to tie into this year's Senate theme of "teaching, research and the creation of knowledge," Gies said.
The $100,000 annual grant, funded by alumnus David A. Harrison III, would be split among 25 student-faculty pairs, with the students receiving $3,000 for the project and the faculty member receiving $1,000.
Proposals will be due in December and winners will be announced in mid-January so the award winners can get started on their projects, Gies said.
Engineering Prof. Houston G. Wood III suggested that it would be best to leave it to the student's department to decide whether the student should work on the project for a class or as an independent study.
College Dean Melvyn P. Leffler said the College started a similar program two years ago.
The program gave students no course credit for their projects and "the money was not always enough," Leffler said.
He suggested that the Senate be flexible with the amount it awards each winner depending on their individual needs.
The Senate will consider making changes before finalizing the program, Gies said.
Gies also presented his resolution supporting the current University admissions policy to the Senate for revision and approval. The Faculty Senate Executive Council already had approved the resolution in its original form and was made public last week.
Education Prof. Martha Snell raised the question of whether the use of the phrase "equal opportunity" in the resolution was appropriate, since "the other side has been using the same term in saying the University has not been using equal opportunity."
After a few minor changes to the language of the resolution, the Senate approved it unanimously by voice vote.
The Senate also approved the electrical engineering and computer science departments' proposal for a new computer engineering program.
The computer engineering degree "seems like something students want -- it seems to have the value that employers want in a degree," Academic Affairs Committee Chairman William R. Johnson said.
The degree proposal will be presented to the Board of Visitors for approval this month.
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