Campaign develops support for units throughout FIU

The $200 million Campaign for FIU received numerous gifts this year in support of virtually every area of the University. At press time, the total for the year exceeded $12 million, bringing the sum of all contributions and commitments to the four-year-old campaign to more than $166 million.

"Recent contributions have benefited academic programs across the disciplines," said Dale C. Webb, vice president for University Advancement. "We have sought donations for scholarships, professorships, academic enhancements and more. Our goal is to build support for initiatives in all the schools and colleges while responding to immediate needs and acting upon promising opportunities."

Among the year's highlights were six- and seven-figure gifts in support of the planned Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum. South Florida art collector B. Landon contributed $1 million, to be matched by the state of Florida for a total value of $2 million, toward a wing to house the University's extensive permanent collection. Carol Weldon, a longtime friend of FIU, increased to $250,000 an earlier commitment in support of another wing; the gift will receive a 100 percent state match. Finally, Patricia Frost, the former chair of the FIU Board of Trustees, and her husband, Phillip Frost, increased by $500,000 an earlier pledge to the facility that will bear their name. State matching will increase the gift to $1 million.

The College of Arts and Sciences received a $150,000 gift from Mary Lou Pfeiffer- the largest donation to FIU from one of its graduates - in support of the Department of Religious Studies to promote the study of Native American culture and ritual. State matching funds bring the value of the contribution to $225,000.

The College of Business Administration accepted a $200,000 gift from SunTrust Bank, Miami - the bank's largest single donation within Miami-Dade County - for a new Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and an endowment in support of professorships. The former will recognize graduates from any of FIU's schools or colleges who distinguish themselves as entrepreneurs. State matching funds will elevate the contribution to $275,000. The Florida International Bankers Association gave $100,000, to be combined with $50,000 in state matching funds, to establish the college's first professorship in international finance, and the Blank Family Foundation of Miami pledged $200,000 to finance the college's interactive Virtual Logistics Technology Demonstration Laboratory.

The College of Education secured a $200,000 gift from the Pat Tornillo, Jr. Scholarship Fund to benefit outstanding but financially needy students pursuing teaching careers. State matching funds bring the value of the contribution to $300,000.

The College of Engineering received two pledges to support telecommunications studies: a $600,000 pledge from Lucent Technologies for a distinguished professorship and $250,000 from BellSouth for graduate fellowships. State matching funds bring the value of the contributions to $1.02 million and $375,000, respectively.

For the third consecutive year, the School of Hospitality Management raised more than $100,000 at its annual Florida Extravaganza. The proceeds from the 1999 fund-raising event helped complete the school's recently opened $1 million Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center. The Buffalo-based Statler Foundation conferred on the school a $250,000 grant to continue an existing professorship and finance the publication of the school's national journal.

The Wolfsonian-FIU received a $426,000 bequest from the estate of John Malcolm Brinnin, one of the museum's founding trustees. State matching funds will bring the value of the contribution to more than $850,000.

Other gifts will benefit the College of Health Sciences and the School of Nursing, including the South Florida-based Florence Bayuk Foundation's $400,000 grant for graduate fellowships, which will be divided with the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering.

To maintain the success of the past year, Webb and the fund-raising staff continue to fine tune their efforts. They have held discussions with President Modesto A. Maidique and Provost Mark Rosenberg to establish priorities for the remainder of the campaign. Faculty support for research topped the list. Accordingly, Webb has set her sights on donations to establish additional graduate fellowships, research endowments, professorships and eminent scholars chairs, as well as to enhance research facilities.

Another component goal under discussion at press time included attracting private funds for the construction of new campus buildings. Currently underway is an effort to secure funding for FIU's new football program. Several donors have agreed to become Football Founders by making $50,000 contributions to be used toward the purchase of uniforms and equipment, the creation of a practice field, and the expansion of FIU's existing stadium.

 

FIU Foundation funds new research-support building

The FIU Foundation will fund construction of a $12 million five-story research-support building on the University Park campus. The non-profit corporation, which receives and administers all private gifts to the University, will secure a commercial loan to fund the 75,000-square-foot facility's construction. Once the building is completed, several University departments will lease the building and, after ten years, it will become the property of FIU.

The facility, which will be located immediately southeast of the Charles Perry Building, will be completed in approximately two-and-a-half years. "This arrangement represents an important way in which the foundation can help the University obtain something that we truly need," said Paul D. Gallagher, senior vice president for Business and Finance. "Although unconventional, the move was quickly approved by everyone concerned, including the Board of Regents."

Gallagher added that going to the state legislature for funding of the project, rather than relying upon private means, could well have resulted in a wait of several or more years.

"President Maidique and the Board of Trustees felt that we needed to act more quickly to acquire this facility," he said.

The new building will house the Division of Sponsored Research and Training, which provides administrative support for FIU's research activities; the Division of University Advancement, which includes FIU's fund-raising and related personnel as well as the Office of Alumni Relations; Information Resource Management, which plans and administers the University's major computing and telecommunications activity; and the English Language Institute, which offers language instruction to international students, businesspeople, and members of the local community. The building's first floor will serve as a conference center for university-related events.

The FIU Foundation boasts an endowment - the pool of all invested contributions to the University's various academic programs and projects - that currently totals more than $33 million. Earnings on the endowment help secure FIU's financial future by ensuring a minimum level of additional income each year.