VIEWFROMTHEFINISH LINEAFTER AN UNPRECEDENTED CAMPAIGNTHAT BOOSTED THE ENDOWMENT,TRANSFORMED THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY,AND MOBILIZED ALUMNI EVERYWHERE, NYUIS POISED TO TAKE ITS NEXT GIANT LEAP

BY COURTNEY E. MARTIN / GAL ’04

THECAMPAIGNFORNYURECEIVEDTOTAL GIFTS—MORE THAN

THE POPULATION OF CLEVELAND,MIAMI, OR ST.LOUIS.

DONORS GAVE TOTHE FUND FORNYU

DURING 2007, FOR A TOTAL OFMILLION—DOUBLE THE

AMOUNT RAISED IN 2002.

DONORSCONTRIBUTED

MORE MILLION TOTHAN ESTABLISH

NEWSCHOLARSHIPFUNDS.

THE FACULTY OF ARTS ANDSCIENCE NEW FACULTYHIRED MEMBERSUNDER THE PARTNERS PLAN.SWARTHMORE COLLEGE’SFULL-TIME FACULTY TOTAL: 165.

THE NUMBERS:PUTTING OURACHIEVEMENTSIN PERSPECTIVE

NYU / FALL 2008 / 37

476,444

48,736

9,032$292

718

164

$31.3

ALLPHOTOSEXCEPTWHENINDICATEDCOURTESYNYU

The last campaign had raised $1 billion overa decade and, while bold then, times hadchanged. By the newmillennium,NYU hadpropelled itself into the league of major re-search universities, and though its reputa-tion was rising—it was consistently amongthe top “dream schools” for college-boundhigh school students—the university’s en-dowment was a fraction of that of competi-tors such as Yale,Harvard, and Princeton,financial aid resources were lacking, and itsfacilities were in need of serious renovation.Another ambitious fundraising campaignappeared the only way to keep pace.That “Campaign for NYU” ended this

fall and the university reports that it didn’traise $2.5 billion—but, rather,more than $3billion. In the process, it also united a largeand far-flung body of alumni who span theglobe and generations. It energized the par-ents of current students and even inspiredthose with no prior affiliation with NYU toinvest in the university’s future. In total,476,444 gifts were given to the school overseven years, a rate of nearly 200 per day.To inspire this degree of engagement,

the university had to cultivate belief in themission and a common sense of identityamong alumni, whether one hauntedWash-ington Square or the old Heights campus,was a commuter student during leaner yearsor a more recent transplant. “People don’twake up in the morning and decide theywant to give money to anything,NYU orotherwise,” says Ehrenkranz, who chairedthe campaign.To make this connection,President John Sexton started sharing hisvision of NYU as a global community whilegiving his trademark bear hugs from SanDiego to Stamford to Shanghai. At regional

meetings with faculty, alumni, parents, andfriends, he routinely asked the oldest andyoungest alumni to stand side by side as aphysical reminder of the bridges the univer-sity was building.In the process, several new centers of

community building emerged, from theYoung Alumni Leadership Circle, orYALC, founded in 2003 for those alumniwho graduated within the last 15 years, tothe Parents’ Committee, which offers par-ents an official role in advocating for theirchildren’s interests on campus. YALC, forexample, has grown from 30 original mem-bers to more than 400 and is preparing thenext generation of university leadership byoffering the chance to network with trust-ees and others.Meanwhile, the Parents’Committee not only hosts welcome recep-tions for incoming students around thecountry but has become an invaluable en-gine of support. Due to this and other ef-forts, gifts from parents have increased by436 percent since the campaign started.Back inWashington Square, however,

the university has had to create connec-tions of a different sort between NYU’svarious schools and programs, each withtheir own needs. Seven years ago, LaMortebegan by simply breaking bread with thedeans and asking them, “What’s your vi-sion?Where do you want to see this schoolin five years?”They told her about aspira-tions for cutting-edge research, deeplycommitted instructors, improved computerlabs, and a more diverse student body.LaMorte listened, lunch after lunch, andstarted recognizing common themes,which became the five key areas of thecampaign: investing in faculty, increasing

NYU TRUSTEE JOEL S. EHRENKRANZ (LAW ’61, ’63) REMEMBERS THEMEETING IN 2001 WHEN DEBRA A. LAMORTE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENTFOR UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS, ANNOUNCEDTHE UNIVERSITY’S NEW FUNDRAISING GOAL: $2.5 BILLION IN SEVENYEARS.“IT WAS AS CLOSE TO AN AUDIBLE GASP AS YOU CAN IMAGINE,” HESAYS. “IT WAS SUCH A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY, SUCH A HUGE REACH.”

$2.5 BILLION IN SEVENYEARS.“ITWASASCLOSE TOANAUDIBLEGASP38 / FALL 2008 / NYU

ABOVE: THE JOURNALISM DEPARTMENT’S STATE-OF-THE-ART NEW HOME AT 20 COOPER SQUARE.BELOW: THE GRAND ENTRANCE TO THE HELEN ANDMARTIN KIMMEL CENTER FOR UNIVERSITY LIFE.

NYU / SPRING 2008 / 39

January 2001The university launches its most ambi-tious fund-raising campaign ever with a“quiet phase” to gather momentum andleadership support.

April 2001The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education,and Human Development is renamed aftera landmark endowment gift from TrusteesMichael and Judy Steinhardt (above).

August 2001CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$182MILLIONSeptember 2001The School of Law breaks ground onFurman Hall, the first construction in thecity to begin following 9/11.

February 2002Estate of Julius Silver endows professor-ships in the Faculty of Arts and Sciencewith $150 million. The Main Building isrenamed in his honor.

July 2002The Petrie Scholarship Fund is establishedto support undergrads and law studentswith academic merit, good character, andfinancial need. Since that time, there havebeen almost 200 Petrie Scholars.

THE ROAD TO$3 BILLIONA LOOK AT SOME OF THE BIG FOOT-PRINTS IN NYU’S LANDMARK PUR-SUIT TO TRANSFORM ITS CAMPUS,SUPPORT FACULTY AND STUDENTS,AND REDEFINE ITS FUTURE

ASYOU CAN IMAGINE.”

ABOVE LEFT: THE GALLATIN SCHOOL OF INDIVIDUALIZED STUDY RECENTLY UNDERWENT A $27 MILLION “GREEN” REDESIGNABOVE RIGHT: NYU’S “FOUNDING PARTNERS,” FROM LEFT: WILLIAM BERKLEY (STERN ’66), MARJORIE BERKLEY, ANTHONYWELTERS (LAW ’77), SUSAN LIPTON, MARTIN LIPTON (LAW ’55), LAURENCE FINK, HELEN KIMMEL, MARTIN KIMMEL ANDLEONARD WILF (LAW ’77). NOT PICTURED: LORI FINK, BEATRICE WELTERS AND BETH WILF.

PHOTO©PETERGREGOIRE

40 / FALL 2008 / NYU

scholarships and fellowships, enhancingcurriculum and programs, improving thephysical campus, and cultivating alumniparticipation. “We didn’t want this cam-paign to have a gimmicky feel,” LaMorteexplains. “Instead, we wanted to raise thebar on fundraising at NYU from a place ofshared vision and genuine relationships.”One of the more visible manifestations

of the campaign is the Gallatin School ofIndividualized Study, where a $27 millionredesign has already transformed theschool’s cramped quarters at 715 Broadwayinto a fluid—and “green”—center.The newspace, with its student lounges, theater, andgallery spaces, was laid out to “offer moreopportunities for forging connections” and“encourage collaboration,”Dean SusanneWofford explains.The same goes for thejournalism department’s new home atCooper Square, the labs for the Center forComparative Functional Genomics in theBrown Building, and the Joan and JoelSmilow Research Center at the NYU Lan-goneMedical Center.But it takes more than just reconfiguring

space to transcend the silos of individualschools and disciplines.The campaign sup-ported new initiatives to link students andfaculty, such as the Catherine B. ReynoldsFoundation Program in Social Entrepre-neurship, which is administered by theRobert F.Wagner Graduate School of Pub-

lic Service and recruits undergraduates andgraduates from all of NYU’s schools andsupplies financial support while they study acurriculum for changing the world withclasses in finance, law, social work, andmore.Other unions have grown, too: theTisch School of the Arts and Leonard N.Stern School of Business now offer a jointMFA/MBA, the master’s program in Glob-al Public Health and the Institute for theStudy of the AncientWorld conduct re-search from a variety of disciplinary angles,and there are new collaborations betweenthe Courant Institute of Mathematical Sci-ences and the LangoneMedical Center to-ward advancing health-care research.Walking around campus today, it’s hard

to miss the changes that have taken placein the past seven years. New buildings,such as the Helen and Martin KimmelCenter for University Life and FurmanHall, stand alongside grand old structuressporting refurbished or brand-new re-hearsal and study spaces, state-of-the-artresearch centers and labs, and an array of li-braries. And many new faces can be spot-ted throughoutWashington Square, thanksto the more than 700 additional scholar-ships that were created and the scores offaculty hired. Perhaps that’s the most im-portant result of this mammoth effort.Money, after all, is only the tool; a strongcommunity of learning is the ultimate

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY’S MOLECULAR DESIGN INSTITUTE, WHICH UNITES FACULTY WITH EXPERTISE IN THEDESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF COMPLEX MOLECULAR AND SUPRAMOLECULAR ARCHITECTURES, OPENED IN MAY 2007.

August 2002CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$514MILLIONJanuary 2003Trustee William Berkley endows jointprofessorships in economics, advancingcollaboration between the Leonard N.Stern School of Business and the Facultyof Arts and Science.

June 2003The Helen and Martin Kimmel Center forUniversity Life (above), overlooking Wash-ington Square Park, becomes the newcampus center.

NYU signs lease for threefloors in the historic PuckBuilding. The Robert F.Wagner Graduate Schoolof Public Service moves in.

August 2003CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$882MILLIONThe 860-seat JackH. Skirball Centerfor the PerformingArts opens andbecomes the lead-ing downtown per-formance venuefor young artistsand audiences.

August 2004CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$1.09BILLION

WHAT YOURMONEY BUYSFROM $50 TO $6,000,HERE ARE SOME OF THEWAYS THAT STUDENTSBENEFIT FROM YOUR GIFTS

COVERS THE STIPENDS FORFIVE INTERNSHIPS.$5,000 PAYS FOR TWO SUITS THAT THE CAREER

CENTER PROVIDES FOR STUDENTS TOWEAR ON INTERVIEWS.$250 ALLOWS A GRADUATE STUDENT TO

STUDY ABROAD FOR THREE WEEKSAND LEARN FROM PROFESSIONALS.$6,000

FUNDS A DOCTORAL STUDENT’SPRE-DISSERTATION PILOT STUDY.$1,000 BUYS ONE REEL OF FILM FOR A

STUDENT’S MOVIE CAMERA.$50 HELPS SUPPORT A STUDENT CLUB’SACTIVITIES FOR A SEMESTER.$500

PROVIDES SEED MONEY TO SUPPORTA NEW STUDENT JOURNAL.$250 BUYS AN UPRIGHT PIANO FOR

REHEARSAL STUDIOS.$5,000

NYU / FALL 2008 / 41

ILLUSTRATIONS©MICHAELKLEIN

UNFINISHEDBUSINESSAS TUITION AND THE COST OF LIVING CLIMB,NYU CONSIDERS HOW TO KEEP ITS DOORSOPEN TO DESERVING STUDENTS

BY COURTNEY E.MARTIN /GAL’04

42 / FALL 2008 / NYU

WhileMaislen’s family circumstancemight be unusual, her challenge to pay forcollege is not.ThoughNYU allocates about$249 million in financial aid each year, 80percent of undergraduates work one part-time job, 25 percent work two, and almost500 students work three. For many, thesegigs only help to scrape the surface of theirmounting debt. Some resort to transferringor choose not to attend NYU,which endan-gers the university’s historic identity as aplace where anyone could get an educa-tion—where a middle-class kid fromToledo,Ohio,might learn side by side with a recentimmigrant from Bangladesh and an heiressfrom the Upper East Side. For decades, thiseclecticism has helped ensure class discus-sions are infused with multiple perspectivesand new ways of thinking. “One of NYU’swonderful attributes is the diversity of ourstudent body—geographically, ethnically,culturally, and we would hope, economical-ly,” says Barbara F.Hall, associate provost forenrollment management. “But that’s goingto becomemuchmore difficult if we can’t in-crease our scholarship funding.”The good news is that last year NYU

received more applications than any privateschool in the country and is now compet-ing head-to-head with the biggest playersin the higher ed game. Last spring’s admis-sions pool confirmed that many of thesame students vying for a coveted spot onIvy League campuses are also holding theirbreath for a fat envelope from NYU.Thebad news:The university can’t afford them.In the last admissions cycle, it may havelost 69 students to Harvard, 56 to Prince-ton, and 68 to Brown because they offereda far better financial package.

Some may wonder:What happened tothe American dream, where a promisingstudent might work his or her waythrough college? “Twenty years ago, thatwas possible,” says Debra A. LaMorte,senior vice president for university devel-opment and alumni relations, who usedthe “bootstrap” approach to get throughboth college and law school. “Today, thescale has changed.” Indeed, one year atNYU as an on-campus undergrad nowcosts $51,982. And, of course, being in theheart of the city is one of the school’sbiggest assets, but it also burdens studentswith a steep cost of living.In response, the Office of Develop-

ment and Alumni Relations has launched“NYU’s Call to Action,” a new fundrais-ing effort to support scholarships, fellow-ships, and financial aid.While manydonors already invest in the labs and cen-ters where researchers work to cure dis-ease, resolve conflict, and address poverty,it’s the students themselves who will real-ize many of these achievements. “There isa ripple effect that goes with aiding stu-dents,” LaMorte explains. “You influencea bright young person’s life and they, inturn, go out and influence others who arealso eventually inspired to give back.”And the competition among universi-

ties to attract students who will be agents ofprogress is on the rise. According to TheNew York Times, the number of high schoolgraduates seeking college admission will fi-nally peak next year, after a 15-year climb,and then continue to decline until 2015.That means that students will actually en-joy, as University of Vermont presidentDaniel M. Fogel puts it, a “buyer’s market.”

NYU / FALL 2008 / 43

MARISSA MAISLEN (TSOA ’09), A DANCE MAJOR FROM SEATTLE, WASA TYPICAL COLLEGE FRESHMAN IN 2006 WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGEDIN ONE DAY. HER FATHER WAS IN A SERIOUS CAR ACCIDENT, WHICHPREVENTED HIM FROM WORKING, AND THE MEDICAL BILLS BEGANPILING UP AT HOME. SHE SCRAMBLED TO MAKE EXTRA MONEY—TAKINGA JOB AT THE RECEPTION DESK IN HER RESIDENCE HALL, DOING TECHWORK ON TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS SUMMER SHOWS, AND EVENPOSING AS A MODEL FOR DRAWING STUDENTS AT THE SCHOOL OFVISUAL ARTS. BUT MAISLEN STILL STRUGGLED TO KEEP UP WITH ALOAD OF COLLEGE EXPENSES. “I BEGAN TO REALIZE IT WAS POSSIBLETHAT I MIGHT NOT GET TO CONTINUE AT NYU,” SHE SAYS.

September 2004The Campaign for NYUgoes public with a galadinner, featuring a per-formance by NYU par-ent Billy Joel (right); theuniversity announcesthe Partners Plan,which, with donationsand other resources,will fund the hiring of250 faculty in arts andscience over five years.

November 2004Brine Library Commons unveiled, offeringtransformed student study spaces, and re-search and reference centers, on the lowerlevels of Bobst Library.

March 2005The Tisch Family pledges a $50 millionsignature gift to support initiatives acrosscampus.

August 2005Using royalties from Remicade, a widelyused anti-inflammatory he helped todevelop, NYU microbiology professor JanT. Vilcek (above) pledges $105 million tothe School of Medicine.

CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$1.42BILLIONJanuary 2006The Wasserman Center for CareerDevelopment opens its new home in thePalladium Residence Hall, offeringexpanded services to students, alumni,and employers.

April 2006NYU launches a special scholarship fund-raising initiative in connection with the uni-versity’s 175th anniversary, raising morethan $128 million in support of 661 newand preexisting scholarships.

Anticipating this shift, some of the nation’sleading universities have begun institutingmore generous financing policies. Harvardnow offers full funding to any student froma family whose income is $60,000 or less,and charges those with household incomesfrom $120,000 to $180,000 just 10 percentof their family household income per year.Yale and many others have followed suit.NYU does not have this financial luxu-

ry. Despite a healthy $2.161 billion en-dowment, which ranks #31 in the nation,the endowment per student is only$62,053, a rate that places it #202 in thecountry.This forces NYU to rely on tu-ition to fund 60 percent of its annualbudget, far more than any of its peers. Andthough the recent $3 billion, seven-yearfundraising campaign met almost all of itsmyriad goals, student aid proved to be thefrustrating exception.The campaign raisedonly $362 million of an anticipated $650million to support scholarships, and leftdevelopment officers and school leaderswith a profound question: How do you

connect those with resources to thosewithout? “You can touch a building thatyou’ve helped build,” says campaign chairJoel S. Ehrenkranz (LAW ’61, ’63) of theconundrum. “You can talk to the professorwhose position you’ve endowed. But whenyou give to the scholarship fund, it’s morecomplex.Who are you identifying with?”One way to make this connection has

been an annual scholarship luncheon fordonors and students, but NYU administra-tors are also finding new ways to bring to-gether their most inspired donors and thoseyoung people who benefit from their gen-erosity. Trustee Phyllis Putter Barasch(STERN ’81), who, along with her husbandMarvin Barasch (STERN ’47), named theBaraschTheater in NYU’s Jeffrey S.GouldWelcome Center, remembers the impact ofa presidential roundtable luncheon: “It wasabsolutely eye-opening to hear these stu-dents speak firsthand about the struggle tosimply grow up and get an education.Theymake the daily grind of trying to figure it allout financially very real.”

May 2006A $200 million gift from the Leon LevyFoundation helps establish the Institute forthe Study of the Ancient World in a townhouse on East 84th Street.

On the East River, the 230,000-square-foot Joan and Joel Smilow ResearchCenter opens at the Medical Center.

The Jeffrey S. Gould Welcome Centercarves out a new gateway for visitors

August 2006CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$1.81BILLIONApril 2007The Gallatin School of IndividualizedStudy undergoes a $27 million renovationthat nearly doubles its size.

August 2007CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$2.22BILLIONSeptember 2007The Stern School of Business launchesthe $35 million Concourse Project (below)to connect Tisch Hall, the KaufmanManagement Center, and Shimkin Hall witha multistory atrium as its centerpiece.

HOWDO YOU CONNECTTHOSEWITH

October 2007The Silver School of Social Work is renamedin recognition of a $50 million gift fromConstance (SSSW ’78, ’79) and Martin(STERN ’58) Silver.

The university reaches an agreement withrepresentatives of the emirate of AbuDhabi (below) to create NYU Abu Dhabi,the first comprehensive liberal arts campusto be operated abroad by a major U.S.research university.

NYU / FALL 2008 / 45

Having grown up poor in rural Maine,Constance Silver (SSSW ’78, ’79), who lastyear, with her husband Martin Silver(STERN ’58), gave the largest-ever privatedonation to a school of social work in theUnited States—$50 million—to establishthe Constance McCatherin-Silver Fellow-ship and the McSilver Institute for PovertyPolicy and Practice, already had a strongunderstanding of students’ struggle. Sheworked for an airline until she was 34 yearsold, when her neighbor and mentor—atiny social worker in threadbare clothes—convinced her that she was college materi-al. Two NYU degrees and a PhD from theUnion Institute & University later, Silverhas focused on aiding aspiring social work-ers from low-income families who will, inturn, use their education to help theirhome communities. Evan Chesler (ARTS’70, LAW ’75), who established the Bar-bara and Evan Chesler Scholarship in Pre-

Law, is also investing both time and moneyin future leaders and hosted a roundtablediscussion with his scholarship recipients.Chesler received a university scholarship,which he says “was literally the differencebetween getting a college education andnot having that opportunity.”As the “Call to Action” moves forward,

NYU continues to explore options that willexcite donors to name scholarships, “adopta student” for four years, or simply donateto the Fund for NYU, the university’s chiefsource of unrestricted income.The studentstories are always compelling; the challengeis making sure they’re heard.MarissaMaislen, who now benefits from a C.V.Starr Scholarship, will audition for dancecompanies in New York or Europe whenshe graduates next spring. “That scholar-ship made all I want to do possible,” shesays. “It made it seem like they wanted meto have this chance.”

Tisch School of the Arts (above) andSchool of Law both launch specializeddegree-granting programs in Singapore.

December 2007CAMPAIGN TOTAL

$2.5BILLIONThe Campaign for NYU surpasses$2.5 billion goal, eight months aheadof schedule.

April 2008Langone Medical Center is renamed inhonor of a $200 million gift, its largest ever,from Kenneth and Elaine Langone.

NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate isnamed in honor of a $10 million gift fromthe Schack family—the largest gift everto the institute and the School ofContinuing and Professional Studies.

May 2008Banco Santander supports globalinitiatives by establishing scholarshipsfor undergraduates studying abroad,fellowships for students in the CreativeWriting in Spanish program, and fellow-ships for foreign visiting faculty.

August 2008

Trustee Helen Kimmel pledges $150 mil-lion to the NYU Langone Medical Centerto build the Helen L. and Martin S. KimmelPavilion, a state-of-the-art "green" hospi-tal and patient care facility specializing incardiovascular medicine and surgery, neu-rological care, and cancer treatment.

Various members of the Tisch family con-tribute in excess of $100 million towardrenovations to Tisch Hospital at the NYULangone Medical Center, including an en-hanced emergency department, patientrooms, and a new family resource center.

August 31, 2008CAMPAIGN ENDS WITH MORE THAN

$3.0BILLION

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH AT COMMENCEMENT, RELIEVING FINALS STRESS IN WEINSTEINHALL, AND GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH CAMPUS IN THE JEFFERY S. GOULD WELCOME CENTER. THE NEW“CALL TO ACTION” WILL WORK TO ENSURE THAT NYU REMAINS A PLACE WITH AN ETHNICALLY, CULTURALLY,AND ECONOMICALLY DIVERSE STUDENT BODY.

RESOURCESTOTHOSEWITHOUT?