Amid a shower of confetti and streamers, UWM Chancellor Mark Mone on Monday announced the goal of the university\u2019s comprehensive fundraising campaign: $200 million.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s double the goal of the last campaign, which concluded in 2008 with $125 million, $25 million more than its initial target.<\/p>\n
The campaign \u2013 called Made in Milwaukee, Shaping the World: The Campaign for UWM \u2013\u00a0has already raised more than $170 million during its five-year quiet phase.<\/p>\n
And another big donation Mone announced Monday pushes that total even higher. Rockwell Automation is giving $1.7 million to establish a program related to smart, connected systems, often called the internet of things.<\/p>\n
The Rockwell donation joins previously announced major gifts of $10 million from Marianne and Sheldon Lubar to establish the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and $5 million from Mary and Ted Kellner through the Kelben Foundation for faculty support, scholarships and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n
While working on the campaign during its quiet phase, Mone said, organizers had been discussing a goal of $175 million. But, he said, they realized they could top that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we can do better,\u201d Mone said. \u201cWe need to aim higher and achieve more. This is the biggest fundraiser in our history.\u201d<\/p>\n
The campaign has already gathered more than 47,000 gifts from more than 17,000 donors. That includes 48 gifts of $1 million or more.<\/p>\n
The campaign is aimed at boosting UWM by focusing on three priorities: student success, research excellence and community engagement.<\/p>\n
Sheldon Lubar, one of the volunteer co-chairs of the campaign, called UWM \u201cthe people\u2019s university,\u201d a place that seeks to be accessible. Speaking to a roomful of donors Monday at the We Energies Public Service Building downtown, he quoted Andrew Carnegie as he noted the generosity already on display in the campaign:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018A man who dies wealthy dies a fool,\u2019\u201d Lubar said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any fools here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ted Kellner, another campaign co-chair, noted that UWM churns out thousands of graduates each year, 74 percent of whom stay and work the region. That is one of the reasons UWM is a major economic driver in southeastern Wisconsin and the entire state. And, he said, the Foxconn development will push the demand for good workers even higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality of UWM people is exactly what we need,\u201d Kellner said.<\/p>\n
Mone noted that the campaign is ambitious. The doubled goal comes less than a decade after the previous campaign, but the university has made great gains in that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way, and we should be tremendously proud,\u201d Mone said.<\/p>\n
The full slate of campaign co-chairs includes:<\/p>\n
Marianne Lubar (\u201913), president of the Lubar Family Foundation; Sheldon Lubar (\u201988), founder and chairman of Lubar & Co.; Michael Falbo, regent emeritus of the UW System; Sheila Falbo, community volunteer; Douglas Hagerman, retired senior vice president of Rockwell Automation; Mary Kellner (\u201978), president of the \u00a0Kelben Foundation; Ted Kellner, chairman and CEO of T&M Partners LLC; Gale Klappa (\u201972, \u201911), chairman of WEC Energy Group; Beth Pritchard (\u201969), principal and strategic adviser of Sunrise Beauty Studio; W. John Pritchard (\u201969), partner at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP; Lorin Radtke (\u201990), retired partner of Goldman Sachs; and Jim Ziemer (\u201975, \u201986, \u201908), retired president and CEO of Harley-Davidson Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amid a shower of confetti and streamers, UWM Chancellor Mark Mone on Monday announced the goal of the university\u2019s comprehensive fundraising campaign: $200 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3151,"featured_media":51435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[122,126],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167],"class_list":["post-51423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-campus-community","section-campus-news","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association"],"yoast_head":"\n