Allegheny College Announces $200 Million Fundraising Campaign As It Begins Its Third Century of Academic Excellence, Equity and Access
May 30, 2015 – Allegheny College on Saturday launched the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the school’s history, with a goal of $200 million, which will be used primarily to fund scholarships and to endow faculty chairs. President James H. Mullen Jr. announced the campaign, titled “Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest,” at a reunion weekend celebration during the college’s bicentennial year.
Mullen announced to more than 2,100 alumni and friends of the college that supporters had already come forward, before the campaign’s public announcement, to donate more than $106 million to the college. He also called on Allegheny’s 24,000 alumni, and on the many friends of the college, to step forward to support the campaign.
“The greatest gift that alumni can give those who follow is a promise to leave their alma mater stronger than they found it,” Mullen said. “It is a gift born of devotion to their college and fidelity to its traditions. It is a gift born of gratitude to those who have preceded us and faith in those who will follow. In this bicentennial year, as America’s 32nd oldest college, we embark on a historic quest that is worthy of the moment and true to our generational responsibility.”
The “Our Third Century Quest” campaign has five main initiatives: increasing the number of student scholarships to ensure access to Allegheny for every student who wishes to attend, regardless of economic status; enhancing global learning and internship opportunities that give students hands-on work experience; enriching the classroom experience by reducing the student-faculty ratio to 11:1; continuing to restore and maintain the college’s historic campus, considered one of the most beautiful in the nation; and keeping Allegheny financially strong through gifts to the college’s Annual Fund.
Strengthening the college’s endowment is also a key component of the campaign. “None of today’s premiere institutions operate on a pay-as-you-go basis,” said campaign co-chair Kim Tillotson Fleming, who is a parent of two Allegheny graduates and CEO and chair of the board of Hefren-Tillotson financial advisors in Pittsburgh. “The best institutions all receive substantial financial support from their endowments in order to ensure academic excellence, equity and access.”
Its newly announced fundraising campaign will allow the college to continue to build innovative programs such as the new Allegheny Gateway, which provides opportunities for students to study, live and work abroad; encounter diverse people and viewpoints; get involved in defining and addressing real-world problems and challenges; engage in collaborative projects with other students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners; and articulate how their Allegheny experiences have prepared them for careers and graduate/professional studies after they leave college.
About Allegheny College
Allegheny College is a national liberal arts college where 2,100 students with unusual combinations of interests and talents develop highly valued abilities to explore critical issues from multiple perspectives. A selective residential college, Allegheny is one of 40 colleges featured in Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives,” among many other guidebooks. Allegheny is celebrating its 200th anniversary of learning in 2015.