Campaign UCLA nears 7-year goal

Monday, October 19, 1998

Campaign UCLA nears 7-year goal

FUNDING: Departments, university administrators aiming to get
$1.2 billion

By Lawrence Ferchaw

Daily Bruin Staff

For the third-straight year, UCLA led all other UC campuses in
fund raising, a fact that means more than just bragging rights,
according to administrators.

Campaign UCLA is the university’s seven-year fund raising effort
which aims to make up for the decreases in state funding for the
university. The $1.2 billion effort is one of the largest fund
raising attempts by a public university, according to Rhea
Turteltaub, assistant vice chancellor of development.

‘(The campaign gives us the) opportunity to focus people on
what’s critically important for the university at this juncture,’
Turteltaub said.

‘Campaign UCLA galvanized (philanthropists) Lew and Edie
Wasserman to give $10 million. $8.5 million went to undergraduate
scholarships,’ she added.

Each campus department has its own goals within the campaign to
get money for capital improvements, research, scholarships, library
collections, endowed chairs and academic programs.

Administrators point to a number of benefits of the campaign,
which is currently in its fourth year. To date, the effort has
raised just under $730 million, or 60 percent of the goal in less
than half the time.

‘We have increased scholarships by several million,’ said Gerald
Levey, provost of the medical sciences and dean of the school of
medicine. University-wide, $62.3 million has been allocated for
scholarships and fellowships.

Academic programs and capital improvements are also a priority
in the medical sciences division. Most of the money raised thus far
has been targeted for academic programs, an area donors tend to be
more interested in, according to Levey.

But, the multi-million-dollar donations, the ones which usually
get the most attention, are often donated for capital projects like
buildings.

The recently completed Gonda (Goldschmeid) Neuroscience and
Genetics Research Center is the result of a $45 million donation
­ the largest single donation in the history of the UC system.
Recent large donations will also pay for a children’s hospital and
the Luck Research Center, an orthopedic hospital slated to be built
in Santa Monica.

The medical sciences division has raised more than 60 percent of
its $600 million goal. This goal includes funds for construction of
the new hospital, which is currently planned for completion in
2012.

Much of the funds raised at the UCLA Law School thus far went to
the recently completed renovation and construction of the law
library.

‘Students are really taking advantage (of the library),’ said
Robyn Puntch, acting director of development for the law
school.

The law library is one of the most visible and appreciated
benefits of the campaign so far, according to Puntch

Of the nearly $20 million raised by the law school, $14 million
went to the library.

Beyond the library, money raised has gone for scholarship funds,
faculty members’ research and fellowships.

‘The rest is slower for people to notice,’ Puntch said of some
of the other benefits of the money raised in the campaign.

The law school is 41 percent of the way toward its $45 million
goal.

Other schools within the university are on their way toward
their stated goals, including:

€Anderson Graduate School of Management, 36 percent of its
$70 million goal.

€College of Letters & Science, 42 percent of its $150
million goal.

€Athletic Department, 55 percent of its $40 million
goal.

€School of Theater, Film & Television, 96 percent of
its $30 million attempt.

Much of the money raised for the School of Theater, Film &
Television has gone to scholarships and other funding to help
students, according to Rosalee Sass, development director for the
school.

‘The only way to help students make films is through student
scholarships and fellowships,’ Sass said.

Helping students is a priority among donors, and development
officers are willing to go along with their wishes, according to
Sass.

She pointed to a number of large gifts that range in purpose
from establishing the musical theater program to funding film
preservation and the film and television archives, Sass said.

Attracting nationally renowned professors to the campus is also
aided by the campaign, something administrators said benefits
students.

The number of endowed chairs ­ faculty positions funded by
the interest from an initial donation ­ has increased since
the campaign began. Money for faculty and endowed chairs totals
$42.7 million. Thirteen endowed chairs were created with money
raised last year.

One recently endowed chair is held by Nobel laureate Louis
Ignarro.

‘A year and a half ago … I wanted a chair for Dr. Ignarro
because I thought he was someone who could win a Nobel Prize,’
Levey said.

Though ahead of schedule, Turteltaub said she doesn’t want to
rest on the laurels of past successes, nor will the push for funds
end when the campaign meets its goal.

‘We’ll continue to raise money,’ Turteltaub said. ‘We don’t
close up shop.’

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