Patriot Pride on Display

Mason Hall atrium named to recognize alumni support

By Denise St.Ours

The Campaign for George Mason University is heading into the homestretch, and indications are that the amount raised by June 30, 2005, will be significantly higher than the initial goal of $110 million. As the university's first comprehensive fund-raising campaign surpasses the $118 million mark, alumni continue to play a key role in its historic success.

The three-story atrium in Mason Hall has been named Alumni Atrium in recognition of the thousands of George Mason graduates who are helping to make a difference. Located in the main administrative building, which also houses the offices of the president and provost, Alumni Atrium is at the heart of the Fairfax Campus and a popular venue for student, faculty, alumni, and community events.

A plaque has been mounted in the atrium to honor the 292 alumni who made gifts and commitments at the President's Circle level ($1,000 and above) during the leadership phase of the Alumni Campaign, a special 2002–03 fiscal year initiative. Honorees include alumni from 21 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 22 alumni couples. Class years represented range from 1968, the year of George Mason College's first graduating class, to 2003. Edward J. Newberry, BA Communication '84 and BS Business Administration '84, chaired the ambitious effort, which surpassed its goal of securing 250 alumni donors.

Numbers on the Rise

Patriot pride has brought record support, with 6,823 alumni contributing during the fiscal year ending June 30. That total includes support from 4,407 undergraduate alumni, an 11 percent increase over last year's figure. Since the beginning of the campaign on July 1, 1998, the amount received from alumni in gifts and pledges is approaching $5 million.

Seventeen of the 79 scholarship endowments that have been created during the campaign were initiated by George Mason graduates. Ten were established in memory of alumni by family, former classmates, and friends (see Endowed Scholarships Memorialize Alumni). Providing scholarship support is one of the campaign's top priorities.

Students, faculty, and programs throughout the university are benefiting from the growing alumni spirit. For example, a small group of graduates from the College of Nursing and Health Science (CNHS) challenged their fellow alumni to make a gift of any size in support of the college. The challenge was that if 800 alumni contributed during fiscal year 2004, the group would collectively donate $20,000 to CNHS. The challenge resulted in gifts and pledges totaling more than $70,000 from 830 alumni donors, 277 of whom were first-time contributors. CNHS now boasts the highest alumni donor participation rate—14 percent for the fiscal year—of any school or college at George Mason in the last 25 years.

The Annual Fund Committee is charged with planning and implementing an annual fund-raising drive to help support university priorities. Tammy P. McBride, BSN '99, chairs the 2004–05 committee, and Craig E. Gautschi, BS Finance '94, is the committee's immediate past chair.

Newly named Alumni Atrium features new plaque.