This afternoon, University President John T. Casteen III will announce the establishment of the College Foundation, a nonprofit fund-raising organization to support both the undergraduate and graduate schools of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The foundation provides a way for alumni and private sources to contribute money to the University. The foundation already has received $77.7 million from private donations.
The College Board of Trustees began planning for the College Foundation in June 1999.
A group of alumni established the new foundation because state funding is inadequate, and officials realized they "needed to bring more private support to the table," foundation President Christine P. Gustafson said.
The most "cataclysmic" event in establishing the foundation was the August 1999 Keswick Hall retreat, Gustafson said.
The retreat was a "brainstorming session" where University officials and alumni came together to find the "best way to develop private funding," foundation Vice President Alan Y. Roberts said.
On the retreat, high-ranking University officials realized that the "foundation was the right next step" for the University, Gustafson said.
In June 2000, the Board of Visitors almost unanimously approved plans to form the foundation.
The foundation has many goals for the University, with one overriding principle - we "want the College and Graduate [School of Arts and Sciences] to demand the highest academic achievement from faculty and students," Roberts said.
One of the goals is to establish a new arts precinct near Carr's Hill. Some of the proposed features of the new complex include a music building, a concert hall and facilities for the art department. This would cost more than $100 million, Roberts said.
The foundation also wants to use fundraising money to "enable the College to recruit the finest in faculty and students," he said. This is essential if the University wants to "move up higher on the overall list" of national rankings.
Another way foundation officials plan to use donations to gain prestige for the University is through the construction of a new Digital Academical Village, which is tentatively planned to be located on Jefferson Park Avenue. The Digital Academical Village would be made up of "interdisciplinary programs related to computer science" and would include an interdisciplinary residential college, Roberts said.
The foundation also plans to restore many University buildings, including Cocke, Rouss, Brooks and Fayerwether halls and some other buildings that are part of the historic legacy of the University.
In the next five years, the foundation plans to raise about $250 million. The foundation's efforts are important because they demonstrate that University alumni produce results for the College, Roberts said.
University officials are excited about the new fundraising efforts. The foundation is a "tremendous vehicle for mobilizing alumni support, generosity and loyalty in the long-term," College Dean Melvyn P. Leffler said.
The foundation and its fundraising efforts are "a dream come true," Gustafson said.
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