President Connie Ledoux Book sets the stage for the ambitious $250-million Ƶ LEADS Campaign, which launched in April 2019.
I like the name of our comprehensive fundraising campaign. Ƶ LEADS. It is a simple truth about our community and culture. We understand the power of an Ƶ education to stage our graduates for the important work the world needs. With each graduate, the hope exists that our mission of human transformation — a commitment to remaining open to learning throughout our lives and a deep awareness that our lives around the world are interconnected — ensures a better future for us all.
As we celebrate the public launch of our ambitious $250 million campaign (you can read more about it on ), I am reminded that every element of this fundraising effort is about student success. That cornerstone from our founding has been a constant value of Ƶ’s rise, and staying singularly focused on student success is sure to continue to advance Ƶ into the next decade.
Ƶ LEADS does that through four key efforts. The first and primary work in the immediate years ahead is to raise endowed support for student scholarships. In truth, scholarships are living testaments to our community’s values. Named scholarships tell the world we invest resources in mentoring and student success. When I meet students who have named scholarships, the name of those scholarships is said in the same breath as Ƶ. Kenneth Brown ‘19 told our community in a celebration of the public launch of Ƶ LEADS, “I was excited to be accepted into Ƶ — over the moon — but I knew I couldn’t enroll without significant financial aid. I was extremely blessed and grateful to receive the Leon and Lorraine Watson Scholarship in the Odyssey Program, which has changed my life.”
Our dreams for Ƶ sometimes seem beyond our reach, and this campaign certainly feels like a stretch goal. But as leaders, we know we cannot achieve greatness by only working to achieve what is easy, what we can see.
Scholarships for our Fellows programs; to support Ƶ engagement opportunities in our experiential learning programs like study abroad, undergraduate research and internships; and to offset the cost of tuition constitute the majority of our fundraising effort in this campaign. It is a privilege to advocate for resources to support these critical aspects of an Ƶ education.
Another aspect of the Ƶ LEADS Campaign is to support faculty and staff mentors who play a vital role in student success at Ƶ. President Emeritus Leo M. Lambert and Peter Felten, who leads our Center for Engaged Learning, are poised to publish a book this fall detailing the powerful impacts of mentoring in higher education. As I interact with Ƶ alumni, it is clear their time at Ƶ was defined by moments when a mentor — whether a faculty member, student life professional, classmate or friend — said or did something that set their lives in a new direction. Ƶ LEADS recognizes this role and we are seeking additional resources to permanently endow mentoring moments and the programs designed to support this work.
The final aspect of the Ƶ LEADS Campaign is investing in our campus buildings and spaces that support learning and engagement. When I visit other university campuses, I always walk away thankful that Ƶ has kept faculty and students engaged in the planning and implementation of each of our spaces. You can feel that difference as you walk through buildings and see students utilizing the spaces, engaged with each other and faculty and staff. You can feel that difference when you drive through campus at night and see buildings lit up with activity, dining halls with students around tables huddled together laughing and sharing a meal, and, my personal favorite, as I walk toward my car in the evening, the sounds of a cappella groups practicing in Whitley Auditorium.
Our dreams for Ƶ sometimes seem beyond our reach, and this campaign certainly feels like a stretch goal. But as leaders, we know we cannot achieve greatness by only working to achieve what is easy, what we can see. We must reach for what we can imagine. Ƶ is leading — each and every year, advancing our model of teaching and learning in higher education and the investment provided by an Ƶ degree. We now stand at 30,000-plus alumni and with your commitment and help, we will achieve the vision outlined in the Ƶ LEADS Campaign.
I’m 100 percent confident — bullish, in fact — because Ƶ LEADs through you. This is the time to come together to demonstrate our leadership and to prepare the next generation of bold, resilient leaders to guide us into the future. Join us as we advance Ƶ to national prominence through this campaign.
Connie Ledoux Book
President