COVER STORY
A Time to Give Back The year 2000 or Y2K was the year that introduced a new level of philanthropy to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff through the New Millennium Leaders Giving Initiative. Dorothy Littlejohn Magett-Fiddmont, Ph.D., stepped in to guide this initiative that asked alumni to donate $2,000 to help create an on-going student scholarship fund through the UAPB Development Office. Through hard work and dedication, the initiative was successful, and since then it has become an emergent mission of generosity. To that end, Dr. Fiddmont believes that the New Millennium Leaders must continue to flourish and expand with momentum and urgency. Dr. Fiddmont is a proud 1953 graduate of AM&N College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) who has become a purposeful UAPB supporter. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Illinois. She has served six years on the Board of Directors of the UAPB/AM&N National Alumni Association where she was Chairman of the Board and National President for two years. For 10 years, she served on the UAPB Foundation Fund Board where she assisted in planning, developing, and implementing successful fundraising initiatives. After years of dedicated work in education, she retired in 1992 from fulltime employment with the Illinois State Department of Education Association. 32
UAPB Magazine • University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Since then she has consulted with school districts and educational institutions on matters related to school improvement in large urban centers. With a quick answer and a warm smile, this spirited alumna explained how the UAPB New Millennium Leaders came into existence. Dr. Fiddmont said that a year before the campaign started, the UAPB Foundation Fund Board Chair – Larry Cooper - petitioned her to act as chairperson of the New Millennium Leaders Giving Initiative to raise money for students who were in need. “Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis, Jr., wanted a pot of money available and dedicated for those students who did not fit the currently established categories,” she said. “Two hundred alums giving $2,000 each in the first two years of the new millennium became the clarion call for New Millennium Leaders.” The UAPB Development Office worked diligently to make the campaign succeed. “Dr. Margaret Hall worked hard and people wanted to identify with this giving crusade,” Dr. Fiddmont said. “It took persistence to raise the $500,000 and receive matching funds to make it $1,000,000. The most rewarding aspect of it has been that people are still joining the New Millennial movement.” James B. Tyson, CFRE, Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement and Development explains how the New Millennium Leader’s generosity helps UAPB students.