KU celebrates largest fund-raising campaign in university history

Editors note: THIS STORY IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 2PM TODAY

LAWRENCE -- A gala at the Lied Center, $25,000 in student scholarships and a breakfast with deans and administrators will be featured this weekend in the first public celebration of the University of Kansas' $500 million fund-raising campaign.

Spearheaded by a volunteer steering committee and the Kansas University Endowment Association, the campaign has already raised more than $280 million and helped fund a new brain imaging center, a biosciences research facility, more than 150 new scholarship funds and 21 new professorships. Called KU First: Invest in Excellence, the campaign will run through 2004.

This weekend's celebration marks the beginning of the public phase of KU First. Previously, the campaign was in the preliminary or quiet stage, during which volunteers and staff members of KU Endowment completed plans for the campaign, set a fund-raising goal and began to seek major gifts.

A gala event from 6 until 10 tonight at the KU Lied Center will include dinner for 500 invited guests and live musical performances. The lead male performer from Broadway'sÊ Les Miserables, J. Mark McVey, will sing with soprano Pamela Hinchman, an acclaimed opera performer and new KU fine arts associate professor. The KU First Orchestra - composed of KU faculty, staff and students - will perform. KU graduates and current students will share stories of life at KU from the 1950s to the present.

On Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. until 11 a.m., KU deans and campaign leaders will don aprons and welcome KU faculty and staff members and their families to a free pancake breakfast on the lawn behind Nichols Hall on KU's west campus. Pancakes, sausage, orange juice and coffee will be served to attendees. A short program at the breakfast will include information about KU First and its fund-raising priorities. The program will be led by Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, KU First Chairman Forrest Hoglund and representatives from the University Family committees, which are two groups of KU faculty, staff and students that act as liaisons between KU Endowment and KU employees and students.

(In case of rain: Shuttle vans will offer transportation from the Lied Center parking lot to the south side of Allen Field House for the breakfast.)

During Saturday's KU vs. UCLA football game at Memorial Stadium, $25,000 in scholarships will be awarded to students chosen as they enter the stadium and by random seat selection.

The 25 scholarships, each worth $1,000, will be applied toward each recipient's spring tuition by the KU Office of Admissions and Scholarships. To win the scholarship, a student must be currently enrolled and wearing a KU First T-shirt. The free T-shirts, which are sponsored by Intrust Bank of Wichita, were available at several locations on all KU campuses this past week and will serve as student tickets to the game. No purchase is necessary to win the scholarships. Winners will appear on the football field at halftime with Chancellor Hemenway, Chairman Hoglund, Mike Maddox of Intrust Bank and Dick Tinberg of Lenexa, Kan., who with his wife Jeanne funded the scholarships.

The fund-raising priorities for KU First range from a new six-story undergraduate natural sciences laboratory in Lawrence to an expansion of primary care and public health programs at the School of Medicine-Wichita. Dozens of professorships, additions to the museums of art and natural history, support for biomedical research and facilities, scholarship funds and an addition to the home of the KU School of Engineering are a few of the many projects and programs included.

"In the past decade, we have witnessed everything from the demise of the Cold War to the spread of the Internet to the mapping of the human genome," Chancellor Hemenway said. "Our students need programs, facilities and faculty members who will help them achieve the level of education necessary to adapt and prosper in a period of incredible technological and global change. Private support -- in addition to the continuing financial support we receive from the state of Kansas -- will help us fulfill our goal to provide that level of education for our students."

So far, the campaign has received $280 million in a combination of pledges and outright contributions from KU alumni and other supporters, including foundations and corporations. KU Endowment began counting gifts toward the campaign on July 1, 1998, and will continue to do so until the campaign's conclusion in 2004.

The largest pledge for the campaign so far, a $42 million commitment from the Hall Family Foundation of Kansas City, will provide support for the life sciences, humanities and business, including $27 million for a new biosciences research facility at the KU Medical Center. The contributions also include a $7 million pledge from Chairman Forrest Hoglund and his wife, Sally Roney Hoglund, of Dallas, that will help fund a new brain imaging center at the Medical Center, and a $4 million pledge from Los Angeles residents Dana and Sue Anderson that will help support the construction of a new athletics strength and conditioning center at the Lawrence campus.

Forrest Hoglund said all levels of gifts will be necessary to reach the campaign goal.

"KU has a broad range of missions," he said. "Life sciences researchers look for cures and treatments for stroke and cancer. Faculty members work with students to find ways to engineer cleaner fuels or to map the diversity of plant and animal life. Humanities and fine arts programs reach out to include the public through lectures, discussions and performances. KU courses provide rich classroom experiences. That's why we are urging widespread support for this campaign - because ultimately, it will affect everyone, from the individual hoping for a cure for Alzheimer's disease to the student seeking a good job after graduation.

"KU First is the name we chose because it highlights the potential we have and also indicates the priority we want our graduates to place upon KU," he said.