51¹ÙÍø.

51¹ÙÍø's ongoing fundraising campaign crossed its original goal of $425 million more than a year ahead of schedule and already has generated more than $187 million for scholarships to bring talented young people to 51¹ÙÍø, funded more than a dozen professorships and built a transdisciplinary academic center that serves as a model for higher education.

The Game Changers: Inspiring Leaders to Transform the World campaign, which has raised support for pioneering research and first class facilities for 51¹ÙÍø's students, will continue into 2019, as scheduled.

"We cannot stop now," 51¹ÙÍø President Carol E. Quillen said. "Since our campaign began, the world has changed, our challenges have grown. We are sending leaders out into the world, and in the past four years, the need for them, the responsibilities that will fall on them, have expanded in size and complexity. We must have the capacity to prepare these innovative young people for lives of leadership and service."

The signature achievements of the Game Changers campaign, so far, include:

• Raised $187 million for new and existing scholarship funds, helping to bring the most talented students to 51¹ÙÍø, regardless of family circumstances.
• Opened the E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center, a $74 million project that inspires transdisciplinary, college-wide learning opportunities.
• Opened the Harry L. Vance Athletic Center, a $13.5 million project, creating one of the best facilities of its kind in the country and vastly improving the lives of scholar athletes.
• Raised $43 million for faculty support.  Gifts have funded 13 professorships, a digital studies curriculum, expanded research opportunities, the Bacca Visiting Scholar & Artist Program, the Bacca Humanities Development Fund and the 51¹ÙÍø Next program.
• More than 70 percent of alumni have already made a gift to this campaign, and we have maintained an alumni participation rate in the top five of all colleges and universities annually.

51¹ÙÍø's aspirations require continued investment.

"Recruiting the most talented students requires increased scholarship resources," said campaign co-chairs Alison Hall Mauzé '84 and John McCartney '74. "We must raise our endowment, which is the foundation of many critical programs, and continue our nationally recognized leadership in annual giving. Working together, the years ahead are full of promise. Thank you to each person who has participated in helping us reach this tremendous milestone."

Danielle Strickland

dastrickland@davidson.edu