October 1, 2008
$1.4 billion campaign goal reached just days before
EMPAC grand opening
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today announced that it has
surpassed the $1.4 billion Renaissance at Rensselaer
capital campaign goal. The announcement comes nine months in
advance of the campaign’s target end date of June 30, 2009, and
just days before the opening of the new Experimental Media and
Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), launched under President
Shirley Ann Jackson’s ambitious Rensselaer Plan.
“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, the campaign co-chairs,
and the entire Rensselaer leadership team, I would like to
express my deepest, heartfelt gratitude to all of our donors
and to the members of the Rensselaer community who have worked
so diligently to help achieve this unprecedented milestone in
our Institute’s history,” President Jackson said. “The campaign
was launched to support the achievement of The Rensselaer
Plan, our bold blueprint for the future, which is
transforming Rensselaer into one of the finest research
universities in the world. As we prepare for the grand opening
of EMPAC on October 3, we begin a new era at Rensselaer — an
era marked by renewed optimism for a future of great promise
for the Institute.”
Renaissance at Rensselaer: The Campaign for Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute was kicked off in the “quiet phase”
on Sept. 1, 2000, and formally launched in the public phase on
July 1, 2004. The campaign fuels the Institute’s strategic
Rensselaer Plan, and supports groundbreaking
interdisciplinary programs which have at their core the
technologies driving innovations in the 21st century:
biotechnology, nanotechnology, computational information
technology, energy and the environment, and experimental media
and the arts. The campaign aims to build the Institute
unrestricted endowment, and also seeks funds for endowed
scholarships and fellowships, faculty positions, curriculum
support, student life programs, and athletics programs and
facilities.
Highlights of the campaign include:
- An anonymous, unrestricted gift of $360 million
in March 2001, the largest gift ever to any public or private
university in the United States at the time.
- An unrestricted gift of $40 million in September
2004 from Rensselaer alumnus and Trustee Curtis R. Priem
’82.
- A $514 million in-kind contribution of software from PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Engineering Education), a philanthropic initiative of General Motors, EDS, Sun Microsystems, and UGS Corporation.
“In combination with the generosity of many others, these
unprecedented gifts have enhanced the student experience,
extended our research enterprise, attracted world-renowned
faculty, increased applications to an all-time high, expanded
the number of scholarships and fellowships available to
students, and further strengthened entrepreneurship across the
curriculum,” said President Jackson. “While our official goal
has been met, the campaign will continue until June 30, 2009,
to support our ongoing efforts to create one of the finest
living and learning communities in the world.”
A Video Message from President Shirley Ann Jackson
Contact: Gabrielle DeMarco
Phone: (518) 276-6542
E-mail: demarg@rpi.edu