November 21, 2008

Scholarship success story
UO graduate enters law school, thanks donor for her scholarship.

Outside views of interiors
Portland couple creates professorship for interior architecture.

Over the top
Record year pushes campaign past $800 million.

Recent Gifts to Campaign Oregon
$822 million and counting! The latest additions to Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives.

Photo by Michael McDermott

Lisa Poplawski
2008 Graduate
Economics and journalism major
Currently attending Berkeley Law

"What my scholarship meant to me was being recognized for my work in the classroom. And knowing that I'm receiving this scholarship because I've worked so hard in school.

"To Mrs. Avner, who funded my scholarship, I would like to say 'Thank you for giving me this peace of mind throughout these years here at Oregon.'

"I'm able to go to graduate school now with no undergraduate debt, which is something not a lot of people can say. And when I go on, and hopefully find a good job, a stable life, then I'll remember what that gift meant to me and I would want to give that to a student. Any amount helps."

Video: Lisa Poplawski

Video: Scholarships transform lives

Never underestimate the impact of a single eye-opening experience.

For Julie Neupert Stott, a 1977 interior architecture graduate, the moment came about thirty years ago when she joined other students at a professor's house to meet one of his visiting colleagues.

"My professor's guest brought the concept of thinking outside the box, which was new at the time," said the Portland-based interior designer. "That's when I realized it's really fun to mix things up by bringing in people from the outside."

Now Stott's husband, Peter, has honored her with a $645,000 gift designed to multiply such opportunities for UO students: the Julie Neupert Stott Visiting Professorship in Interior Architecture.

The first Stott professor visited campus in October. New York architect David Ling challenged students to explore the cultural differences between New York City and Portland, Oregon, by researching and creating exhibition spaces for both regions.

"Successful design is thinking creatively," says Julie Stott. "If this visiting professorship touches one or two students to allow them to think beyond the parameters, it's worth it."

A record 2007–2008 fundraising year brought $277 million in private gifts and pushed Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives over the $800 million mark. The campaign, which ends December 31, 2008, has vastly exceeded its goal of $600 million.

The University of Oregon's focus on fundraising will not flag after the campaign ends. "Our focus, drive, and energy will continue to be on building a top twenty-five public research university," said UO President Dave Frohnmayer. "To do that requires increasing private support. Our foot is on the fundraising gas pedal, and we are not letting up now."

"During this campaign, the amount of money the university receives annually from private gifts began to exceed the amount of revenue we receive from the state," Frohnmayer noted. "This is a significant shift. What it means is philanthropy is the key to our future—the most consistent growing revenue source enabling us to improve the quality of education we offer."

The 2007–2008 fundraising total was the most ever raised in private gifts by the university in a single year. The previous one-year record was $97.2 million in the first year of Campaign Oregon.

As of September 30, the campaign had raised a total of $822 million with three months remaining. It is the largest and most successful fundraising campaign in the history of the university and the state.

Current campaign total: $822 million