Page 19 - BusinessWest October 28, 2024

“One of the most important things is finding ways to make higher education affordable.”
Among the foundation’s challenges is finding them, keeping them informed, and engaging them in the university and its future.
Gifts That Keep Giving
As noted earlier, the campaign has three main focal points: improving access to higher education; investments in research, teaching, and creative endeavors; and magnifying impact on the “common good.” And all of these are reflected in transformative gifts from donors. These include:
• A $21.5 million naming gift from the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Charitable Foundation to the College of Nursing, which is support- ing student scholarships, an endowed professorship, the work of the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innova- tion, and mentoring and research initiatives that create access and equity for nursing students from a variety of backgrounds;
• A $20 million pledge by Douglas (’71) and Diana Berthiaume to the Isenberg School of Management to create endowed faculty positions, endowed doctoral fellowships, a new behavioral research laboratory, and expanded faculty research at the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship; and
• A $10 million gift from Jerome (’60) and Linda Paros to endow the Paros Center for Atmospheric Research at UMass Amherst,
a center of excellence where students and faculty conduct high- impact research projects in atmospheric sciences, distributed geo- physical sensing, and hazard warning and mitigation to revolution- ize the nation’s ability to forecast, plan for, and respond to climate and weather events.
The Paros Center is an example, said Duffy, of how philanthro- py often provides seed money or next-stage funding — situations where donors’ interests and philanthropic priorities converge with the university’s, “and you start to get some really interesting things happening.”
Reyes agreed. “With a campaign like this, you want to elevate the institution to continue to be of national prominence, find the areas in which you already have a certain level of excellence, and strengthen them,” he explained. “When you look at what we’re doing in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, Nursing,
Arwen Duffy says large, transformative gifts create opportunities to connect the university’s philanthropic priorities with the specific interests of donors.
Food Science ... you find the pillars where you’re already strong and say, ‘we’re going to double down on those.’ And we need resources to bring more students into those programs, retain faculty through endowed chairs, or providing support for facilities.”
As for access, that is a huge focal point of this campaign, said Reyes, adding that, at a time when the cost of higher education con- tinues to rise and challenge students and their families, improving access is critically important.
“One of the most impor- tant things is finding ways to make higher education
UMass
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