Pace University”™s recently ended centennial campaign has raised more than $101 million in cash and pledges for the 13,000-student institution in Westchester and New York City.
Since its inception in 2003, the campaign, the most ambitious in the school”™s 104-year history, raised $101,096, 941, exceeding its $100 million goal, said Pace officials. Contributions included more than $23 million from Pace trustees and 16 single gifts of $1 million or more.
The largest gift in Pace”™s history, $15 million, was made by Ivan G. Seidenberg, board chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications, to the school of computer science and information systems in October 2005. Seidenberg received his M.B.A. from Pace in 1981. One-third of his naming gift will support the Seidenberg Scholars Program, dedicated to recruiting and supporting top computing students from across the country.
A Pace trustee, Seidenberg chaired the It”™s Time centennial campaign and led the 17-member campaign executive committee.
“Since the start of the campaign, more than 16,813 individuals and organizations, including 12,365 alumni, have stepped forward to make critical investments in the school,” Pace President Stephen J. Friedman said in a statement. “This is truly inspiring and a vote of confidence in the university.”
Other noteworthy naming gifts:
”¢ The Dyson Foundation awarded Dyson College a gift of $7.5 million. Of that, $5 million went to the renovation of science labs on the Pleasantville campus; $2 million to fund scholarships in psychology, communications and media, performing arts, fine arts, environmental science and environmental studies, and $500,000 to create the Dyson student opportunities fund, which funds special activities for students.
University officials said that was the largest of the gifts that marked the Dyson Foundation”™s 50th anniversary. It reflects a partnership between the Dyson family and Pace that began 75 years ago, when Charles H. Dyson graduated from the college. Dyson, a pioneer in leveraged buyouts, was founder of the privately held investment firm Dyson-Kisser-Moran and chairman of Pace”™s board of trustees.
Ӣ The Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship was launched with a $5 million pledge from Helene and Grant Wilson, Boston-area entrepreneurs and philanthropists whose involvement with nonprofit organizations has convinced them that more entrepreneurial management can help those organizations increase their impact.
”¢ The Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation made a gift of $2 million toward the Pforzheimer Honors College endowment. The Pforzheimer family has contributed to the university for 47 years. The investment banker Carl H. Pforzheimer III is a trustee emeritus and was Pace board chairman from 1990 to 1999, while his mother, Carol, a trustee emerita, served on the board from 1973 to 1979.
Pace officials said the campaign drew 6,417 first-time donors, including 4,360 alumni who contributed $35.6 million. It raised $21 million for scholarships and $800,000 for the school”™s Division II sports programs, including scholarships and capital improvements to athletic facilities.
