CORPORATIONS & FOUNDATIONS

The University of Delaware has joined the ranks of the nation’s premier institutions of higher learning thanks in large measure to the generous support of corporations, corporate foundations and private foundations. Corporations and foundations support the University for a variety of reasons, all of which have at their root a desire for excellence.

Foundations have consistently invested in the University because they know their dollars will be spent wisely to improve the quality of our students, faculty and facilities. The institution is deeply grateful for the support it has received from such philanthropic organizations as the Kresge Foundation, the Keck Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Getty Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Unidel Foundation, and the Longwood Foundation.

Corporations have found in the University a commitment to excellence in both leading-edge research and in the instruction of outstanding undergraduate and graduate students. Here they have found a strong pool of employment candidates from which to recruit talented young professionals. Here they have found knowledge expanded in a host of fields through leading-edge research. And here they have found a resource for the advanced training of valued employees. As a result, many leading corporations have chosen to support the University through financial gifts.

The University of Delaware has a long and treasured relationship with the DuPont Company, and has also been the beneficiary of gifts from other leading corporations including ExxonMobil, Eastman Kodak, Merck, and GlaxoWellcome.

A key corporate partner is MBNA America Bank, N.A., which provided the University more than $2.3 million in gifts during Fiscal Year 1998-99 and which funded construction of MBNA America Hall, home of the College of Business and Economics.

In ceremonies marking the opening MBNA America Hall in October 1997, Charles M. Cawley, chairman, president and chief executive officer, remarked that the relationship between the corporation and the University "symbolizes the future of both institutions."

He added that, if the University of Delaware were a portrait, it would be a "masterpiece."