Vol. 19, No. 20

Feb. 17, 2000

The University of Delaware has received $193 million toward its original goal of $225 million, set for the five-year Campaign for Delaware, UD President David P. Roselle said Feb. 14 at a news conference announcing a $25 million gift from MBNA America. The original goal of the campaign, announced Oct. 2, 1998, “resulted in part from the perception of what the University might be able to raise. It thus was not fully representative of the institution’s true needs and opportunities,” Roselle said. “Our experience is that our friends want to help us more fully address the University’s needs and opportunities.” Roselle said that, during the first 16 months of the campaign, “our supporters have made it clear that the institutional needs and opportunities are sufficient reason for them to be generous in unprecedented amounts. “It is remarkable that their beneficence now totals $193 million. Said differently, the funds raised now surpass 86 percent of our original Campaign for Delaware goal in only a bit more than 25 percent of the term of our campaign,” he said. Going forward, Roselle said, the campaign will “emphasize as its most important scorecard the needs of the institution that have been met and the opportunities that have been provided for students, staff and faculty. “We do so in all confidence that, when the Campaign for Delaware has run the entirety of its five-year term, we will be able to report a Campaign fundraising total far in excess of the initial goal,” he said. “More importantly, we are also confident that we will then also be able to report a litany of institutional improvements that are the direct result of the generosity of the alumni and friends of the University of Delaware,” Roselle said. “And, we will have had the time to reach as many people as possible who want to join in the spirit and excitement of support for the University. “The Campaign for Delaware will have as its result the still further improvement of an already fine institution,” Roselle said. “For this reason, the Campaign for Delaware will prove to be one of the most important initiatives ever undertaken by the University of Delaware. We hope and we encourage that all friends and alumni will choose to evidence their support during this most exciting time for the University.”