With three months to go in the fiscal year, the University has already raised more cash in this year than in any other. A total of $3.4 million in cash has come from donors supporting Chancellor Marty Meehan’s inauguration, two professorships in plastics engineering and an endowment to fund a scholar in peace studies, among other large gifts.

As a result, the University is on track to meet its goal of doubling the overall endowment a full year earlier than planned. The endowment now stands just $1 million shy of the $40 million goal, set in 2004, of the five-year Public Higher Education Endowment Incentive Program (PHEEIP) Campaign.

“Our goal was to create an endowment that is bigger than every other campus in the state system — except, of course, for UMass Amherst, which is four times our size in both alumni and in undergraduate students,” says Executive Director of Advancement John Davis. “Chancellor Meehan’s focus on private fundraising this year, and our effective use of the state’s matching PHEEIP money, has allowed us to set ourselves apart in terms of private endowment support.”

With the success of the PHEEIP Campaign, the Advancement office now turns its attention on building private support for the many capital projects on the horizon, including the Emerging Technologies Building, a potential College of Management building and a possible academic building on UML South.

“Our emphasis continues to be on raising external funds for the University,” says Davis. “Chancellor Meehan has painted an exciting vision for the future, and our job is to encourage alumni, friends and corporations to support that vision.”