A campaign update for faculty & Staff

As the new semester is set to begin, Beth Fischer sat down for an interview for faculty and staff. Fischer, the Vice Chancellor for Advancement, gave an update on Light the Way: The Campaign for Earned Achievement, which was launched publicly last Oct. 5 on Founders Day, after several years in a silent phase. It is designed to have a profound impact on our University, strategically strengthening three key areas: access, excellence, and impact. 

Beth, how is the Light the Way campaign going?

I’m excited to share that we’re on track. We had our best fundraising year ever, in fiscal year 2021-22. And I think last October’s campaign launch really helped give us a lot of momentum. I am excited about the progress. We’ve worked really hard, and now we’ve got to keep digging in and keep going.

We have passed the $138 million mark. That’s $138,008,218, to be exact. The goal is $200 million and we are charging toward that goal.

People want UNCG to be successful. I just came from a meeting at Cone Health where they talked about “shared fate,” very similar to the language our chancellor uses. They acknowledge that much of the region’s workforce comes from UNCG – and that we shape the culture of that workforce. Of course, we have alumni far beyond the North Carolina boundaries. Our impact is far-reaching.

Our campaign newsletter this month notes that we have five new endowed professorships for example! And we have another one in the pipeline! 

So what does that mean to campus? Why does that make a difference? The more endowed faculty positions that we have, the better able we are to attract, recruit, and retain top faculty. And what does that help us do? It helps us attract students, it helps us grow internships, and it helps us make sure the students we serve have transformational opportunities. And, of course, we need scholarship dollars to support our students – this campaign so far has created 142 endowed scholarships. But we need other things too. We call them wraparound services, and that often involves staff.  

We’ve passed the $138 million mark. The goal is $200 million, and we are charging toward that goal.

– BETH FISCHER

And of course, one extra endowed professorship – even if it’s not in your department – still helps with the reputation and the funding of this University. Attracting more students helps with the reputation and funding of this University. It also transforms the workforce around us. It really goes back to that principle of a rising tide lifts all boats.

How can faculty and staff get more involved with this campaign?

The easy answer is for faculty and staff to support it! The broader answer is: So many of our faculty and staff are on the front lines of working with students, who then become our alumni. Please help make sure Alumni Engagement and your unit’s Development officers know about particular alumni who want to be more involved, whether through alumni events or however that may be. Those connections and that data are important. And help us increase and attract new volunteers. I think we’ve been doing a nice job of bringing alumni back, but let’s involve community leaders as well. That will help make us a successful university – from internship opportunities to recruiting students to research opportunities. 

And one more thing: Share with us stories that will inspire people to want to be a part of the campaign. They can be useful for UNCG Magazine, for our web posts, and for our social media and newsletters. One example is: We had a theater student, Jade Young, who was recommended to us last year, who read the most amazing poem as part of our campaign. She is amazing. Share with us those student, faculty, and staff service stories that we can push forward to inspire giving and a greater connection between potential donors and our University. 

In light of this state’s adjusted funding model and enrollment challenges, why is the campaign so important?

Philanthropic support is only going to become more of a reliable source of funding. As we move forward, we need to continue to build a mature, philanthropic program – and part of that means we need to make sure our community understands the ways philanthropy plays a role here on campus. Everything from how we educate our students, to the spaces where we educate them that are named for our supporters, to those endowed faculty positions that we referenced.

What are some things that faculty and staff should put on their schedule for the coming months? 

Founders Day on Oct. 5 is one of my favorite traditions on campus. Our volunteers and our staff will saturate campus to talk about that role of philanthropy and to help us create a culture of philanthropy. We hope to educate students, faculty, and staff that every single gift matters, no matter how big or how small, and they can make a huge impact now and for many years to come.

Homecoming’s biggest days will be Oct. 14-15. Hopefully, we’ll get to do an in-person Homecoming this year. It’ll be our first in several years where we invite alumni back. I think there’s certainly a sense of camaraderie when we do that. And I love seeing our students, alumni, faculty, and staff mix and mingle and do everything from cheer on our Spartans at a soccer game to play giant games of Connect Four or Jenga, to get a flu shot from UNCG Nursing students, and to of course dance and enjoy the music. It’s a family-friendly event! 

Plus, in November, as part of building out our culture of philanthropy, we’ll invite our students to write some thank you notes to our donors – to really personalize that experience for our donors. 

Anything else you’d like to add, Beth?

I’m so grateful for our faculty and staff. They make us who we are. We’re an institution of service. It’s in our DNA. And I watch the way we interact both with each other and with our students and with the leadership, and that collaborative spirit makes UNCG unique. Certainly we have a beautiful campus with gorgeous buildings and incredible landscaping, but it’s the people on our campus who make it really truly special. That heart is what attracts the support of the many folks we’re lucky and privileged to have here on campus. 

Learn more about the campaign here.