‘Our Rutgers, Our Future: A Campaign for Excellence’ to Raise $1 Billion to Benefit Students, Faculty and High-Priority Initiatives
The seven-year, $1 billion initiative, “Our Rutgers, Our Future: A Campaign for Excellence,” will focus on meeting the university’s most pressing academic and financial needs – such as providing scholarships to hundreds of undergraduates, redeveloping the Livingston Campus and more than doubling the number of prestigious endowed chairs to attract and retain world-class faculty.
“The public launch of this campaign comes at a critical moment in the history of Rutgers,” said university President Richard L. McCormick. “We are laying the foundation for a bold future for this university – a future where the exceptional quality of our faculty is matched by support for their groundbreaking work, where the highest achieving students will enroll and receive the scholarship support they need to complete their studies and become the leaders of tomorrow in their chosen fields.
“In an environment of declining public support for higher education, private giving makes this future possible,” President McCormick added.
Ninety percent of the funds raised in this campaign will be used to support academic initiatives and student services. Specific campaign goals include:
- $85 million to create 850 new scholarships for undergraduate students.
- $35 million to help fund the redevelopment of the Livingston Campus, creating a professional education hub that will bring together the Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, the School of Management and Labor Relations, the Graduate School of Education and the School of Social Work. This initiative will enable the university to better serve the evolving needs of students pursuing professional degrees and continuing education.
- $30 million for 10 endowed faculty chairs across all schools at Rutgers-Newark. This is part of an overall goal of $180 million to endow 60 new chairs universitywide. Endowed chairs provide permanent sources of funding for faculty positions, enabling the university to attract and retain internationally acclaimed leaders in high-priority academic fields.
- $30 million for 40 new graduate fellowships in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School-New Brunswick. Fellowships provide financial support for students pursuing graduate degrees.
- $25 million to help fund the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health. This multidisciplinary institute will focus on obesity and nutrition-related diseases.
- $25 million to help fund a new facility providing instructional and research space for the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology on the New Brunswick Campus.
- $10 million for a new Music and Dance Wing at the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center. This new facility will provide much needed practice and performance space for students.
- $2 million for a renovated facility for Rutgers-Camden’s Honors College, which has doubled its enrollment in recent years. This facility will include seminar and meeting rooms, computer and office space, a study library and a student lounge.
The campaign also has a goal of doubling the university’s permanent endowment, said Rutgers University Foundation President Carol P. Herring.
“A robust endowment is vital to the future of any outstanding university,” Herring said. “It ensures that permanent resources will be available to meet the needs of our students and faculty for generations to come.”
The Rutgers University Foundation began the campaign’s “quiet phase” in the summer of 2007. Over the past three years, the foundation set a new record for fundraising at Rutgers – despite the worldwide economic downturn.
The foundation raised $472 million during the campaign’s quiet phase – nearly half the overall goal of “Our Rutgers, Our Future.”
Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 56,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 27 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes. Regarded among the top public research universities in the country, Rutgers is one of only two New Jersey institutions represented in the prestigious Association of American Universities.
Find out more about the campaign here.
Media Contact: Greg Trevor
732-932-7084, ext. 623
E-mail: gtrevor@ur.rutgers.edu