University of San Diego Leading Change Campaign Insert: Fall 2016

Leading Change

The Campaign for USD College of Arts and Sciences Edition U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

S A N

D I E G O

Campaign Goal: $300 Million

$220M amount raised to date

T

he College of Arts and Sciences has a fundraising goal of $26.95 million, with the overarching intent of engaging our students’ hearts, minds and spirits. Our goal advances the college’s legacy of providing a holistic and versatile education for undergraduate students and affirms its commitment to spark and foster creativity, collaboration, ingenuity and lifelong learning.

Current Use

$20.35M

We have far exceeded our goal to raise $11 million for centers, programs and institutes; $6 million for undergraduate research; $250,000 for capstone courses and $250,000 to establish an endowed lecture series.

Endowment

$2.72M

Our goal is $5 million for endowed professorships and chairs, and $700,000 for student scholarships.

Capital Projects

$1M

The $3.75 million sought will create flexible student classrooms that adapt to various teaching subjects, methods and needs of faculty and students.

The College of Arts and Science has raised $24.07 million of its goal.

Leading Change: The Campaign for USD | Fall 2016

New Beginnings, Appreciated Legacies

S

ummer in San Diego is the season of dreams: enviable weather, activities galore and a sunny place where time can stand still. Summertime at USD, however, is not a slow time in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Students are in classes. Labs are abuzz.

Research is underway. Spaces are being renovated, improved and reimagined.

We have just three short months to get so much accomplished.

The summer, in particular, marks a very special time for the College of Arts and Sciences.

It symbolizes a period when the college can see and feel the extraordinary impact of the generosity of our donors through Leading Change: The Campaign for USD. This fall, the power of these gifts will be felt more deeply throughout the campus.

We welcome a new faculty member, Dr. Satyan Devadoss, who will hold the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair in Applied Mathematics.

Art students who do not have sufficient funds to purchase materials and supplies will receive support from The Stone Family Art Supply Fund. Biology students conducting research in plant science will receive funding from the Irwin Baird & Lodi Morrison Research Fund.

And students who wish to pursue graduate work in theology or religious studies will receive support from the Dr. Joseph A. Colombo Memorial Scholarship.

Most visibly, the fall will usher in a renewed

commitment to the humanities. At a time when the value and importance of the humanities are being challenged and called into question, the college is reinvigorating its dedication to the humanities across the entire campus. With a strong foundation in the liberal arts and the sciences, the college is preparing all students, regardless of major, to lead and create change in the world.

Leading Change is our commitment to our students by expanding horizons, fostering creativity, engaging communities, connecting concepts and inspiring changemaking.

In August, we welcomed 12 brilliant new faculty members in the arts, sciences and humanities, including the new director of USD’s Writing Program, Dr. Amanda Moulder.

The new academic year also brings news that USD is one of just five academic institutions selected to receive The Washington Center’s Higher Education Civic Engagement Award. USD was selected in part because of the college’s long-term work in introducing students to experiential civic education in our nation’s capitol.

Leading Change: The Campaign for USD advances the mission of the College of Arts and Sciences by effectively preparing all students to flourish in their professional successes and personal achievements. Please join us in supporting this exciting endeavor.

— Valerie Attisha ‘94

Liberal ARTS

Breath of Fresh Air

Over the course of the summer, a construction project at USD has remained hidden in plain sight. Located in Serra Hall, the newly completed Humanities Center is unlike anything USD has housed before: a space dedicated to study through the lens of the humanities.

“The Humanities Center is an extraordinary step forward for USD to promote and foster the liberal arts and sciences on our campus,” says Noelle Norton, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

New Humanities Center will urge students to explore the intricacies of what it means to be human Other days there will lunch hours and deep conversations.

Across the room is a door that leads to an imaginative space where creativity is expressed in all its glory: the art gallery. Curated by University Galleries and the Humanities Center, the gallery will boast exhibitions that transcend art altogether and transport the viewer to a different place. In fact, one of the first exhibitions will be by a former military soldier. The exhibit will be a 4-D experience that depicts the aftermath of the explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), something that he lived through. Upon exiting the gallery, there is a cozy office in the corner of the main room. This is the new home of Brian Clack, PhD. As the inaugural director of the Humanities Center, Professor Clack is brimming with ideas, enthusiasm and a vision for the future. Since his arrival at USD nearly 10 years ago, Clack has become a fixture in the philosophy department. When he talks about the new Humanities Center, he is visibly excited, and his British accent becomes stronger than ever.

“When they asked me to be the director, I was thrilled. I saw what this space could be, a living and breathing hub, for not just humanities students, but for all students. I’m so excited to create a space for student scholars, student researchers and student artists. I hope that they love it as much as I do.” — Taylor Milam

“W

NICK ABADILLA

ith this center, we are giving the humanities a central, prominent home, and are providing space to explore what it means to be human through new interdisciplinary approaches to curriculum, community engagement, digital humanities and collaborative research. It’s truly an exciting time at USD and for the humanities in San Diego.”

So what exactly will be inside the Humanities Center?

In short, the new space will hold a little bit of everything. In one corner of the space, there will be an area devoted to digital humanities, where students will blend new technologies with rigorous scholarship.

In the middle of the room will be a meeting or “salon” space; there, one imagines groups of students lounging in plush chairs at a long table, earnestly arguing about life’s biggest questions. Some days there will be formal meetings with projection screens and analysis. leadingchange.sandiego.edu

Heartfelt THANKS

Student Success Is

About Teamwork

Dear Donors, I am incredibly appreciative of your support to my education and I hope I can express how meaningful it is to me. My mother works extremely hard to pay for my living expenses while I’m at school. She owns a cleaning company and works with a crew all day cleaning houses, despite being ill with chronic Lyme disease. Knowing how hard she works for me to be at USD motivates me to work similarly hard.

I am currently involved in undergraduate research where I’m studying the active site conformations of proteins. This year, I founded the Executive Leadership Organization, an on-campus club that unites like-minded, ambitious student leaders in a variety of fields and works to develop leadership skills. I am also a member of the Chemistry

Club and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Last year, I was able to achieve a 4.0 GPA in the first semester and finished the year with a 3.95.

Over the summer, I was an intern at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mounain View, Calif., working in the emerging field of biomimetics.

When I feel overwhelmed with work, I think of how hard my mom is working and the support I have received from people like you. I know success takes a combination of intelligence, hard work, persistence and help. Your assistance contributes immensely to my continued attendance at USD. I will continue to work my absolute hardest every day.

Best, Cooper Lathrop ’18

[gifts at work] Bruce Alexander ‘74 (BA) was an extraordinary individual.

A talented writer and editor, he regarded his time at USD as some of the happiest years of his life, and remained a committed Torero. When Bruce suddenly passed away, the university worked with his brother Brian ‘81, also a writer, to establish the Bruce Alexander Endowed Scholarship to support undergraduate students who are majoring in English and passionate about writing. Although Bruce is no longer with us, his dedication to his alma mater and belief in the power of the written word will live on in the students who receive his scholarship.

Be True to Your School, an evening event held during the 2016 USD Grandparents Weekend, raised more than $30,000 for the Parent Partnership Fund. The fund, which was established by the USD Parents Association Board, has helped more than 70 students continue their studies at USD and ultimately graduate. Find out more at www.sandiego.edu/parents/giving.

Marian Holleman served as USD’s first head librarian from 1969 until her retirement in 1989, when

she was designated librarian emeritus. Her husband, Roy, served as the College for Men’s head librarian prior to his passing in 1969. Upon Marian’s death, the Roy and Marian Holleman Foundation was established and is advised by trustees Christopher Redo ’74, ‘78 and Cheryl Cox ’70, who were both work study students during Marian’s tenure. In 2015, the Holleman Foundation’s advisory board awarded $50,000 to establish an endowment fund that provides scholarship support to undergraduate students working in Copley Library.

The Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities supported the Africa Regional Dialogue on Defying Extremism that was convened in Kenya in July 2016 by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice and other partners.

The foundation’s gift of $25,000 helped bring together religious leaders, women leaders, intergovernmental, governmental, security sector, civil society and youth participants to understand their role in ending extremism, and opportunities for collaboration. This is the institute’s third regional dialogue on defying extremism; previous regions were Asia and Europe.

MAKE A GIFT NOW There are many ways to contribute to Leading Change: The Campaign for USD. Go online to learn more about how to give matching gifts, stocks, mutual funds, planned gifts, life insurance policies and much more.

Office of Annual Giving (619) 260-4724 leadingchange.sandiego.edu sandiego.edu/leading-change-video