Illuminating Impact - Philanthropy at the University of Denver

Illuminating Impact

PHILANTHROPY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

A Word from the Chancellor

From the classrooms and labs at our Denver campus to the boundless moments of exploration, community, and reflection at the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus, the University of Denver gives our students countless opportunities to thrive. Teaching, research, experiential learning everything we do contributes to an environment in which our students can learn, grow, and prepare for meaningful careers.

Every single aspect of the DU experience is made better through philanthropy. Your gifts have an immediate and lasting impact on the lives of our students and the ways they will shape our world.

Your giving strengthens the DU 4D Experience, in which our students are supported by a broad constellation of mentors and advisors while they grow intellectually and shape their values into a rock-solid strength of character. They discover the joy of well-being for themselves, for others, and for our planet, all while growing the confidence and preparation for meaningful lives and careers.

Through generosity, scholarships open the door for outstanding students of all backgrounds, helping them create their own unique 4D Experience at DU. Investments in

interdisciplinary collaboration and community connection give students practical educational experiences that shape their understanding of the world. DU’s research stature affirmed earlier this year as we attained R1 status demonstrates our unflagging commitment to push the boundaries of knowledge to contribute to the public good.

In giving to athletics, you fuel our studentathletes’ excellence both in the classroom and in their athletic pursuits. In supporting research and faculty excellence, you strengthen our teacherscholar model. Your gifts empower our brilliant faculty to expand knowledge and improve lives, all while educating and mentoring the next generation of thinkers and doers. Your gifts to DU empower us to live out our commitment to students and to the public good.

For all that you do for DU, I thank you. I hope you enjoy seeing in this report many examples of philanthropy’s impact over the past year. Together we are leading. Together we are learning. Together we are making our world better for today’s generations and the many to come.

With gratitude, Jeremy Haefner

Chancellor

Creating Opportunities for Students to Thrive

Generous giving sustains DU’s ability to nurture our student’s intellectual development while equipping them to live meaningful lives. Donors’ generosity provides scholarships that open the doors to a DU education. Investments in internships give students professional experience to advance their brand-new careers. Visionary support allows our students to learn and lead in nature at the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus and to build their education through the holistic and multifaceted 4D Experience, a signature DU initiative. Each step of the way, philanthropy clears the path and creates boundless opportunity for students to develop intellectual growth and curiosity, build character, prioritize well-being, and pursue lives and careers of purpose.

NUMBERS OF NOTE

93% of students who participated in an internship secured employment or grad school acceptance by six months after graduation, compared with 82% of those who did not do an internship

85% of students participated in an internship during their degree program

Internships are statistically significant in improving postgraduation outcomes

DU is ranked 5th in the nation among graduate schools for producing Peace Corps volunteers

DU is host to students and faculty around the globe from 80+ countries

Internships Global Reach Post Graduation

DU is ranked #2 in the nation for study abroad participation

About 70% of DU undergraduates study abroad

92% of undergrads have secured post-graduation plans within six months of graduation

56% of master’s students stay in Colorado after graduation

66% of bachelor’s students stay in Colorado after graduation

Making the Mountain Campus a Reality

A transformational gift from James C. Kennedy (BSBA ’70) is providing DU students and faculty with opportunities to learn, reflect, recreate and connect with others, themselves, and their values at a 724-acre mountain campus adjacent to Roosevelt National Forest.

DU’s Board of Trustees named the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus to honor Kennedy and his enthusiasm and long-held commitment to conservation, sustainability, and outdoor education.

Funded entirely through philanthropy, the Kennedy Mountain Campus is an investment in and accelerator of DU’s 4D Experience. It positions DU as the first university to offer both a mountain and an urban experience to all undergraduate students, providing the opportunity for every student to grow in multiple dimensions for themselves and for the greater good.

A location ripe for the deepening and discovery of passions and interests—from hiking, yoga and rock climbing to painting, writing, leadership development, relationship building, and beyond—the Kennedy Mountain Campus is a space for all students, of all backgrounds, abilities, and interests.”

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Chancellor Jeremy Haefner

Supporting Students and Operations at DU’s Kennedy Mountain Campus

Thanks to Andy (BSBA ’70) and Barbara Taylor’s $20 million gift in support of programming and operations of DU’s James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus, students are experiencing a multitude of transformational leadership, exploration, and community-building programs.

Programs at the Kennedy Mountain Campus funded through the Taylors’ gift serve students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds and experience levels.

In recognition of the Taylors’ generous gift, DU has named the Andy and Barbara Taylor Upper Camp at the Kennedy Mountain Campus in their honor. The Taylor Upper Camp is the central hub for all student living, dining, and activity at the mountain campus.

Andy and Barbara Taylor are longtime supporters of

When Jim Kennedy very generously provided the lead gift for the Kennedy Mountain Campus, Barbara and I immediately saw this as a game changer for DU and we wanted to help support it.”

Andy Taylor (BSBA’70)

INVESTING IN Scholarships

Giving Opportunity Through Scholarships

Through the Michael A. Morton Endowed Scholarship Fund, he aims to give future generations of students the dynamic experiences of a DU education. Because the scholarship is endowed, it will benefit DU students in perpetuity.

Morton is the owner of multiple restaurants in Las Vegas and co-founder of Morton Group with his wife, Jenna. Morton’s father, Arnie Morton, was a Chicago restaurant legend who founded Morton’s Steakhouse. His brother, Peter Morton (BSBA ’69), is co-founder of the Hard Rock Café.

Even with a storied family history in the restaurant business, Morton says it was his internship as a DU student at an 1800s old-school Chicago hotel that inspired him to become an entrepreneur.

Morton notes that his experiences at DU from completing a thesis on airline food service to friendships he maintains to this day were life-changing.

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“I hope this endowed scholarship will help ease the pressure for some students, so they can find life-changing experiences like what I had.”

Michael A. Morton (BSBA

71% OF DU STUDENTS

Investing in Students’ Success

Russell Noles (MBA ’89) credits DU for preparing him for a career in finance that exceeded his expectations.

During his 15-year tenure at TIAA, he stayed in touch with his finance professor, Mac Clouse, and hosted students in New York City during the Walk

Down Wall Street program. “It was great to have the students there, learning firsthand from professionals. The experience also gave me a sense of pride that I was able to do something to help the academic pursuits of students from my university,” Noles says.

Noles also contributes to DU students’ success by giving to scholarships. A loyal donor to the Daniels College of Business since 1992, in 2012 he created the Russell Noles Endowed Scholarship Fund. Since

then, Noles has continued to invest in the fund, leveraging matching funds, gifting stock, and creating a flexible charitable gift annuity. So far, eight students have received the Russell Noles Endowed Scholarship, and he knows his investments will benefit graduate finance students for many years to come.

“I want to see DU continue its tradition of graduating topnotch students who go on to do great things in the world,” Noles concludes.

Russell Noles and his daughters

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Fighting for Justice

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LARSHIP

Annika Adams, J.D., DU Sturm College of Law Class of 2021, knew she wanted to pursue a career in civil rights law from an early age.

Reflecting on her time working at the Civil Rights Clinic, Adams says, “There’s really no better way I could have spent law school.”

While it was the Civil Rights Clinic that drew Adams to apply to DU, it was the scholarships she received that allowed her to say “yes” to her first-choice law school.

SP O T L I G HT

In high school, she became fascinated with the Supreme Court and taught herself about the Court’s landmark civil rights cases.

Adams says DU’s Civil Rights Clinic, where she worked as a student attorney doing prisoners’ rights litigation, set her on the path she’s on today, working in her dream job as a civil rights attorney.

Adams received a Provost Scholarship all three years and was awarded an Arnold and Porter Endowed Scholarship for her third year, in recognition of her outstanding work in the Civil Rights Clinic.

“Without scholarships, I wouldn’t be doing the one thing I have been wanting to do for as long as I can remember,” she says.

Preparing to Be a Change Agent in Medicine

When Mayerli Lopez-Hernandez was growing up in Denver, no one in her family had any formal education past middle school. Lopez-Hernandez says it wasn’t until eighth grade that she understood what college was and knew she wanted to attend one day.

Today, Lopez-Hernandez is majoring in biological sciences and minoring in leadership studies, Spanish, chemistry, and health sciences. She wants to become a neurosurgeon.

STUDEN T S C H O LARSHIP

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While she has always been fascinated by the brain, her uncle’s vascular dementia diagnosis cemented her desire to pursue neurosurgery and become a patient advocate.

“From a very young age, I had to translate for my family and try to understand doctors and medical bills,” Lopez-Hernandez says. “I see how much room there is

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Supporting Students in Media, Film & Journalism Studies

Dave Steinke (BA ’75) tells the story of how his dad, Gene Steinke (BA ’48), would wake him and his five siblings up with the DU fight song—a telling anecdote of the family’s love for the University of Denver. Dave’s mother, Doris Davenport Steinke (BA ’48), was also a DU grad.

After Doris’s passing in 2021, the Steinke siblings established the Doris Davenport Steinke Pathways Endowed Scholarship

to support undergraduate students in Media, Film & Journalism Studies. The scholarship honors Doris’s passion for journalism and her leadership as one of the first female editors of The Clarion, DU’s student newspaper.

In addition to establishing the scholarship, the Steinke family gifted a leather-bound volume of 1947 Clarions to the University’s archives.

The family previously established the Gene E. Steinke Scholar Athlete Endowed Scholarship Fund, which supports men’s basketball student-athletes, to honor their father.

“Mom and Dad always emphasized the importance of a college education,” Richard Steinke says. “There is no better thing that we can do as their heirs than to provide that opportunity for other students.”

Seizing the Day

Ethan Ash, a senior studying business management, is up at 5:45 a.m., when most of the DU campus is still sleeping. He says the early mornings, however, are worth the rich experiences that have come with being part of DU’s men’s soccer team.

When asked what being a student-athlete has taught him, Ash says: “Don’t waste any day. Go in and approach every day with the mindset to be better—on the field, in the classroom, in every

DU’s academic community. As a freshman, Ash and his team won second place in DU’s Madden Challenge, where students pitch their business ventures to entrepreneurs, angel investors, and experts from the Denver business and DU alumni community. Ash’s team proposed a wearable device that would measure neurotransmitter levels in patients who are at risk for suicide and alert their medical team if levels were worrisome.

As a recipient of a Chancellor’s Scholarship, the Nicholas and Mary Anne Chirekos Momentum Endowed Scholarship Fund, and an athletic scholarship, Ash says, “I wouldn’t be where I am today

SP O T L I G HT

$14,985,631

GIVEN TO SCHOLARSHIPS IN FY22

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Diving in to DU

University of Denver swimmer Gaby Antonini knows that hard work pays off: In 2022, for the ninth consecutive year, the DU women’s swimming and diving team secured the title of league champions.

The senior backstroker from Florida says her teammates not only have been the highlight of her DU experience, but they’ve also helped her succeed as a studentathlete at DU.

A psychology and business double major and a Taylor Scholar, Antonini has been accepted into the Daniels Distinction program, which recognizes high-performing, truly distinctive undergraduate business students.

As part of the program, Antonini is working on a thesis about how social media, especially TikTok, has drastically changed how many people start businesses and how quickly businesses can gain success.

A first-generation American whose parents hail from Venezuela, Antonini says her DU experience almost didn’t happen due to finances. She says she was coming to terms with not being able to attend her first-choice school when the offer of an additional scholarship allowed her to say “yes” to DU.

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I wouldn’t be here without scholarships...donors make DU possible for so many students.”

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Shining on an Unexpected Stage

Recent DU grad Sophia Mellsop (BSBA ’22) isn’t where she expected to be.

In high school, she was on track to achieve her childhood dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer. After dancing full time for a year after high school, however, Mellsop made the difficult decision to trade her pointe shoes for college.

An economics class Mellsop took as a freshman at Smith College sparked her interest in pursuing a numbers-driven field. She transferred to DU for her sophomore year, largely based on the Daniels College

of Business’s reputation for providing exceptional experiential learning opportunities.

Mellsop doesn’t regret her decision to transfer to DU and says her experiences there, especially as president of DU’s Women in Business (WiB) organization, challenged her to step up as a leader.

Today, Mellsop is working in wealth management for PNC. No matter where her professional life leads, she wants mentorship and empowering women—two things she experienced abundantly in WiB— to be major components.

A merit scholarship recipient and Lentz scholar, Mellsop is grateful for the investment DU’s donors made in her. “They served as a source of encouragement to me,” she says. “By giving, the giver is saying they believe in you.”

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The BANDALOOP performance in the fall of 2022, an element of this year’s Newman Center for Performing Arts programming, was offered free of charge to the DU community as part of the 4D Experience.

ADVANCING THE PUBLIC GOOD through Collaboration, Scholarship, and Research

The University of Denver is a great private university dedicated to the public good a vision that is made real every day by donors’ generosity. Innovative, interdisciplinary research at DU connects in tangible ways with the Denver community and beyond. People’s lives are improved because our faculty and students create knowledge to solve the greatest issues of our day. Our donors’ visionary investments strengthen academic excellence and the lasting positive effects that our research has on the world.

Bolstering the Business Community

Co-founders of RE/MAX Dave and Gail Liniger have been helping others find success in business for 50 years, and their legacy will expand dramatically

Linigers’ recent $3 million gift to DU has established the Liniger Center on Franchising at the Daniels College of Business.

When co-founding RE/MAX in Denver in 1973, the Linigers created an industry-changing business model. Their longstanding dedication to helping entrepreneurs build their own success created a global real estate powerhouse. Today, the multi-brand RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. is one of the world’s leading franchisors.

The first of its kind west of the Mississippi River, the Liniger Center will offer support to both franchisors and franchisees through education, networking, and thought leadership, echoing the Linigers’ commitment to lifelong learning.

“We’ve spent 50 years seeing amazing things happen when entrepreneurs come together, share their experiences, and support each other. The center will be a hub of learning and growing in that same spirit,” said Dave Liniger. “We’re thrilled to help new generations discover the incredible value of franchising and the power of joining forces with like-minded professionals.”

Advancing the Protection of Animals

The Institute for Animal Sentience and Protection will expand the scientific and social-scientific understanding of the cognitive and emotional capabilities of nonhuman animals and advance the protection of animals resulting from this evolving understanding. Made possible through a legacy gift from Dr. Robert Brinkmann, the Institute will be a collaboration between the Graduate School of Social Work and Sturm College of Law.

Brinkmann’s personal experience with animals played a significant role in his decision to leave his estate to DU for this purpose. Although he understands that he will not see the full impact of his gift during his lifetime, he says, “You have to have faith that there’s some reasonable likelihood that our species’ fundamental attitudes toward other species will become more humane as we know more about other species’ feelings and capabilities.”

Giving Momentum to University of Denver–

National Jewish Health Partnership

With a gift from alumnus Lewis J. Hoch, Esq. (BA ’74, JD ’77), the University of Denver has expanded its collaboration with National Jewish Health (NJH). The two Denver institutions started working together at the beginning of the pandemic to develop a program for responding to COVID-19.

Hoch’s gift to DU funds interdisciplinary collaborative research projects involving investigators from DU and NJH that will advance science and lead to better health.

While a student at DU, Hoch was treated for uncontrolled severe asthma at NJH, and he says his relationships with both faculty at DU and physicians at NJH were transformational.

Hoch hopes that this gift will benefit DU, NJH, and the broader community, just as he benefited from caring and involved people at DU and NJH a half century ago. He also hopes that five-10 years from now, the collaboration between DU and NJH will have produced a sustainable and thriving national center for excellence in health in Southeast Denver. For more information on the research projects funded through this collaboration, visit bit.ly/DU-NJH.

Enhancing Ethical Leadership

DU’s School of Accountancy has a new partnership with Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization focused on financial reporting in government agencies. Made possible by a generous donation from Daniels College of Business alumni Jack (BSBA ’79) and Sheila Weinberg (BSBA ’79), this partnership will enhance Daniels's longstanding commitment to teaching ethical leadership.

Researchers in the School of Accountancy will apply their knowledge of governmental accounting to find and analyze data from government financial reports to help create the annual flagship reports of Truth in Accounting: the Financial State of the States and the Financial State of the Cities. The organization was instrumental in bringing better financial disclosure to governments, especially in the area of state and local government pensions and other retirement liabilities.

Expanding Access to Art

Faculty and students across DU now have access to new works in the University Art Collection thanks to recent donations. These pieces can be used in teaching and research, and they include pieces that have added to our DU Artists Initiative, illuminated medieval manuscripts, and 18th-century watercolors and botanical prints.

Albrecht Dürer, “Virgin and Child Crowned by Angels,” 1518, engraving (Gift of Pavel and Olga Kolesnikov)

Student-Athlete Experience

Supporting the student-athlete experience means expanding the resources for athletic excellence. Our donors and alumni give our student-athletes the tools they need to excel both in the classroom and in their athletic pursuits. Such investments also empower DU to harness research-based knowledge and apply it for the benefit of athlete success and wellness at DU and beyond.

1Day4DU: Athletics

During 1Day4DU, more than 630 donors gave over $340,000 in support of our student-athletes and the programs, facilities, and scholarships that help them thrive in their academic and athletic pursuits. Read more about 1Day4DU, DU’s annual day of giving, on page 28.

Championing Hockey Excellence

A few months before DU won the 2022 Men’s Hockey National Championship last spring, becoming just one of two Division I schools in the country to have won nine NCAA national championships, DU hockey alumnus David Paderski (BSBA ’66) established a new endowed fund in memory of legendary coach Murray Armstrong to enhance the student-athlete experience and provide resources for the hockey program.

Together the University of Denver community—alumni and friends, donors, volunteers in many roles—advances the work of our great University. In making gifts from the most modest size to the most transformational, our donors invest in our students’ education and in the research and community impact that change our world. Community partnerships, fueled by research excellence, make a meaningful difference in the lives of individuals in Denver and far from our campus. Together we are making an impact. We are exceedingly grateful for your

Lending Invaluable Support Through Volunteerism

Throughout the year, 1,812 volunteers, including more than 1,500 alumni, gave of their time and talent to help advance our mission by contributing to programs, supporting classroom and community experiences, and sharing their knowledge and expertise.

Additionally, the DU Career Network had 1,273 active volunteer mentors providing support and guidance to 3,315 mentees.

2,792

Two units on campus—Athletics and Daniels College of Business— each raised over $250,000 for priority programs

Boosting the Student Experience

On May 18 during 1Day4DU— DU’s annual day of giving—gifts large and small poured in from across the country in support of our students.

Alumni, faculty and staff, parents, students, trustees, and friends of DU demonstrated the tremendous difference gifts of all sizes can make.

Internships and student opportunity funds were among the highlights of 1Day4DU’s projects. Morgridge College of Education, the Graduate School of Social Work, and the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences also raised significant funds for student support.