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UW-Eau Claire Foundation Raises Goal
as Campaign Gifts Top $38 Million

The UW-Eau Claire Foundation has increased its fund-raising campaign goal to $50 million after surpassing its initial $35 million goal more than 15 months ahead of schedule, officials announced following the Foundation board of directors meeting Oct. 1.

Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence has raised more than $38 million in contributions and commitments since it began July 1, 2000.

"We've had a strong outpouring of support, and we're seeing a positive impact across the campus as a result of donors' generosity," said Carole Halberg, UW-Eau Claire Foundation president. "At the same time, we've discovered many needs that still are unmet, and we've just begun to connect with many of our alumni and friends about the campaign. We want to continue this effort until we've addressed as many needs as possible and until every constituent has heard our message."

The Foundation also will extend the Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence campaign's closing date from June 30, 2005, to Dec. 31, 2007. The university's first comprehensive fund-raising campaign has raised more than $38 million since it began July 1, 2000.

"The focus areas we identified when the campaign began — student success, faculty and staff development, technology for learning, facility enhancements, serving our region — all are just as relevant, if not more relevant, today, given the increased economic pressures the university and our students are facing due to decreased state support," Halberg said.

Renewable scholarships for students are an important focus of the continuing campaign, Halberg said.

"With tuition increases of $500 last year and this year, and the likelihood that increases will continue, we need to give more assistance to students through scholarships that are renewable for multiple years," she said. "It's becoming more and more of a struggle for people to afford a college education, and that's a critical problem we want to address for UW-Eau Claire students."

Private support through the campaign is making a difference for people and programs across the university, Halberg said. Some of the campaign's results have included:

• many new, fully funded scholarships for students, some in specific academic areas and others to encourage student/faculty research, address financial need and/or attract high-achieving students;
• enhanced learning facilities, such as a College of Business cyberlab, refurbished simulation labs for nursing students, a new foreign language instructional resource center and new equipment for the athletic training facility;
• helping to support the installation of artificial turf and a new scoreboard at the Carson Park football field;
• the creation of the Endowment for Excellence, the earnings from which will support student scholarships, faculty/student research, the Honors Program, faculty development and the university's other areas of greatest need;
• renovated locker rooms for the men's and women's basketball programs and the football program;
• an endowed fund to support continuing education and enrichment for faculty;
• support for the work of the university's new Center for Collaborative Leadership in Education, which serves students and programs in area school districts;
• increased levels of support for scholarships for single-parent students;
• advancement funds for nearly all academic departments on campus;
• scholarships for UW-Eau Claire students studying abroad, as well as for international students attending UW-Eau Claire; and
• a collaborative project between the university and the Eau Claire Area School District to provide foreign language education to area elementary schoolchildren.

David Anderson, an Eau Claire attorney and chairman of the Foundation's board of directors, said the campaign is critical to ensuring that UW-Eau Claire can continue to be an interactive public regional university that enhances the quality of life in the region and state.

"Through its graduates who are ready to contribute in our workplaces and communities, and through its many partnerships with area businesses and agencies — not to mention its contributions to the community's cultural enrichment, UW-Eau Claire is a treasure in the Chippewa Valley and the state of Wisconsin," Anderson said. "Our alumni and friends are responding positively to the campaign because they understand the challenges the university faces due to declining state support and rising tuition, and they want to be sure this treasure will be here for generations to come."