Another Banner Year in 2010: The Campaign for Syracuse University Reaches 80% of $1 Billion Goal

At the start of 2011, we can look back and take great pride in the accomplishments of 2010. During this one year, $120 million was added to The Campaign for Syracuse University—for a total of $821,668,105 as of December 31—setting just the right pace to reach the goal of $1 billion.

With our sights set ahead, we celebrate our success and the many ways it enables us to live the vision of Scholarship in Action. But most important, we celebrate those who continue to make it all possible!

SU trustee Mike Thonis’s $250,000 challenge to Boston-area alumni and friends exceeded by more than $150,000—Boston Regional Campaign energized and raises more than $1 million!

Howard and Louise Phanstiel and their ongoing passion for students and access to higher education lead to $20 million gift and creation of the Phanstiel Scholars Program (see photo above from the gift announcement celebration on the Quad).

Read more about the impact we continue to have on the students of today—and the future—and the many people behind it!

Your campaign co-chairs,

Melanie Gray                 Howie Phanstiel                 Deryck Palmer

January 28, 2011

The Campaign for Syracuse University

Total as of 12/31/10:
$821,668,105

IRA Charitable Rollover Extended!

The recently passed Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 has extended the IRA Charitable Rollover for 2010 and 2011. If you’re age 70½ or older, you can now use your IRA to make charitable contributions to Syracuse University—without your withdrawals being counted as taxable income. Because Congress acted so late in the year, IRA Charitable Rollovers completed through January 31, 2011, can still count for the 2010 tax year.

Meet Our Student Callers

Each year, nearly two-thirds of SU donors make their gifts to The Fund for Syracuse when they’re contacted by student callers during the annual phonathon. You can meet some of these energetic young men and women on our web site—view our recently updated photo gallery and new video.

See Our New Alumni Video

During Orange Central 2010, a number of alumni volunteered to spend time in front of the cameras talking about the ways SU gave them their start—in their careers as well as their personal lives. The result is a brief but compelling video that provides a glimpse into the lives of a number of graduates, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Floyd Little ’67. View the video.

Hendricks’s Mission of Student Service Remembered

While attending SU in 1946, Clare Probert Hassett ′49 benefited from the welcoming and caring community that is the core of Hendricks Chapel. Without the means to travel home to visit her ill father, she turned to the Reverend Charles Casper Noble, then dean of Hendricks, who ensured her trip to her father’s side. Both Clare and her husband, James R. Hassett, never forgot the kindness and support found at Hendricks. Now, James Hassett’s $1 million bequest commitment honoring his late wife supports the Hendricks Dean’s Discretionary Fund, and has been recognized with the naming of the Hassett Dean’s Suite. In addition, Bill and Joan Freeman ’60 have recently established a $25,000 charitable gift annuity naming Hendricks’s Miner Music Suite in honor of John E. Miner ’33 (Engineering) and Louise Yetter Miner ’34 (VPA). The gift is unrestricted, for use at the discretion of the dean and choir director.

Nonprofit Grant to Support Options Program

Thanks to Susan Cohen, Syracuse University Project Transition co-chair and current SU parent, a $250,000 grant from Parent Support Group NJ Inc.—a nonprofit foundation sponsoring self-help groups for mothers and fathers coping with a child’s addiction—has been received in support of SU’s Options Program. The Options Program is a free and confidential student alcohol and drug education, referral, and assessment program within the Counseling Center at Syracuse University and is part of SU’s student health and wellness portfolio. Supporting both student wellness and access to higher education are passions of Susan’s. “We know more than ever that we are committed to Syracuse University’s efforts to expand educational opportunities for all students and their families and to ensure a healthy—and drug-free—experience once they’re here,” she says.

Belfer Archive Awarded Grant from Mellon Foundation

A $505,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will enable Syracuse University’s Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive to make it easier for students and researchers to discover and use the archive’s audio resources. The grant will support the positions of director and sound archivist, as well as provide funding to equip a smart classroom in the Belfer facility. Read more...

New Alexia Chair for Documentary Photography Named

    Multimedia journalist Tom Kennedy, a recent addition to the Newhouse School of Public Communications faculty, has been inducted as the Alexia Tsairis Chair for Documentary Photography. The Alexia Tsairis Chair supports photographers whose work contributes to the improvement of the human condition. It was established in 2006 in the Newhouse School through a generous gift from Peter and Aphrodite Tsairis, the parents of Pan Am 103 victim Alexia Tsairis, who was a Newhouse photojournalism student at the time of her death. Read more about Tom Kennedy.

Champions of the Arts Create Stevenson Professor of Practice

Syracuse Symphony Orchestra (SSO) Music Director Daniel Hege has been appointed professor of practice in SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. The Stevenson Professor of Practice was made possible by a gift from Ann Stevenson ’52 and her late husband, Milton ’53. Read more about the expanded partnership between SU and SSO.

Andrew T. Berlin ’83 Honors Maxwell Faculty Member and Mentor

Inspired by a professor who stood out among the rest, Andrew Berlin, now chairman and chief executive officer of Berlin Packaging, in Chicago, has established The Andrew Berlin Family National Security Research Fund in honor of his former teacher and mentor, Maxwell Professor David H. Bennett. The $500,000 endowment gift will fund faculty research relating to issues of national security and will operate through the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT), a collaboration between Maxwell and the Syracuse University College of Law. The fund will provide research and related support to Maxwell School faculty members who are affiliated with INSCT. Read more...

Passion for SU Spans Generations

Through the Mangurian Family Foundation, John and Terry Skuse G’75 have demonstrated their love for the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) with a gift to the school’s Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS). The gift will support the renovation of the facilities in Sims Hall that house CRS to better serve students and faculty and create a physical environment that fosters collaboration and engagement. With the Mangurian Foundation gift, the department’s physical space will match its national academic reputation. The Skuses’ ties to the University run deep—both of their sons are SU graduates and they have supported the building of the football indoor practice facility at Manley Field House.

New Campus Child Care and Educational Center to Be Constructed

A $3.5 million naming gift from John D. Reilly III ’69 and Patricia M. Reilly has kick-started the construction of a new child care and educational center at Syracuse University. The Jack Reilly Learning Campus for Child Care Excellence—named for the Reilly’s only son, who perished in a day care center fire—will allow SU to expand training and research opportunities in early childhood education for students and child care providers. Read more...

Investing in Veterans

Focusing on his passions—the creative energy of entrepreneurship and helping those in the military who have sacrificed so much for our country—SU trustee Steven W. Barnes ’82 has generously provided a naming gift to endow the program that exemplifies both. The Barnes Family Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) provides training in entrepreneurship and business management to those who are disabled as a result of their military service. The gift will support the Barnes Family EBV program in perpetuity, and includes support for student travel and lodging, meals, course materials, and cost of instruction. Graduates of the program will be known as Barnes Family EBV Scholars. Read more about Steve Barnes.

Generous Gift to Help Cold Case Justice Initiative Build on Momentum

Continuing their commitment to the civil rights movement, Syracuse University supporters Samuel and Carol Nappi have made a $250,000 gift to support the College of Law’s Cold Case Justice Initiative. The fund will enable CCJI to expand its efforts to seek justice for racially motivated civil rights era murders. In addition, the Nappis have provided $50,000 in much-needed support to the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Enrichment Fund. Read more about the CCJI gift in the news release and more about the CCJI’s work in this article from The New York Times.