December 09, 2008

Who paved the way for you?
While they last—COE pavers make inspired gifts

Alumni invest in new center at business school
Launched by donors, Securities Analysis Center wraps up first quarter

University Venture Development Fund
Gifts kick-start innovation

MNCH expansion marks milestone
Builders raise walls for new MNCH vault

UO Foundation bucks national trend
Though down, UO’s endowment outperforms national average


Photo by John Bauguess

You can make an enduring tribute to someone who made a lasting impression on your life by inscribing a paver in the College of Education's new Walk of Fame—but supplies are limited and the offer ends December 31.

"I'm honoring two very important mentors," said Mike Bullis, education dean and Sommerville-Knight Professor. "Each had a deep influence on my development at different points." Read more...

A personalized certificate of acknowledgment can be sent directly to your honoree or given as a holiday gift. Walkway gifts also move the college forward in meeting a $250,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. See more stories from people honoring special mentors with gifts to the Walk of Fame.

Last year, a group of UO alumni—all successful investors—contributed more than $2.5 million to start the UO's new Securities Analysis Center (SAC). Their investment is yielding dividends. The center opened this fall, and the interest will compound for years to come, for both the university and the state.

One of four centers of excellence in the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, the SAC will serve graduate students and undergraduates, providing opportunities for internships, mentoring, and industry projects. Guest speakers and state-of-the-art investment tools will benefit the entire business school.

The SAC will give students the skills that companies need, says Ben Salm, the center's managing director. Before launching the program, donors and faculty members conducted extensive research.

"We asked businesses what they needed," says Salm. "Investment firms are looking for students with more accounting skills, and a full understanding of international financial statements and global issues."

Private gifts are powering the first $50,000 venture-launch grants to four spinoff companies working to bring to market products and services arising from UO discoveries:

• Dune Sciences of Eugene, to support demonstration of patented technology using copper nanoparticles as antifungal and antimicrobial agents
• Floragenex of Eugene, to help move products to market that enable plant breeders to develop desired traits—without genetic modification—ten times faster than traditional methods
• Insignia Health of Portland, for development of a new approach to helping people adopt healthy behaviors and become active, effective members of their health-care teams.
• MitoSciences of Eugene, for the first noninvasive diagnostic test for mitochondrial disorders, which currently require fresh-muscle biopsy samples and time-consuming assay techniques.

Read More

Though down about 18 percent, the UO's endowment fared better than the national average for 2008. Moody's Investors Service projects the decline of college and university endowments nationwide at 30 percent. The UO Foundation will distribute funds to the UO according to plan this fiscal year. Next year, because of the smoothing function of the distribution policy, the university will likely receive similar total funding.

Following are just a few of the many recent contributions from private donors to Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives for academic purposes:

Scott and Sammi Bedbury—$60,637 pledge to the Bedbury Scholars Program in the School of Journalism and Communication.
John and Lois Elorriaga—$100,000 to the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center in the Lundquist College of Business.
Helen Copple Gerlinger—$100,000 to the School of Music and Dance to purchase three pianos and name a practice suite.
Sylvia Giustina—$50,766 for the Museum of Natural and Cultural History Director's Fund for unrestricted use.
J. Douglas McKay—$1.35 million, including $100,000 for the Ford Alumni Center and $900,000 for the Miles and Eleanor McKay Technology Center in the Lundquist College of Business.
Bob and Mary Ellen McNutt—$40,000 irrevocable bequest for the Saltzman Endowment of the Oregon Bach Festival.
National Basketball Association—$50,000 to the Lundquist College of Business for the NBA – Warsaw Center Mentorship Program.
Patricia Noyes—$25,000 for the Richard and Patricia Noyes Professorship in Chemistry.
Precision Castparts Corporation—$36,900 for the Precision Castparts Corporation Scholarship Fund.
Donn Sullivan—$25,000 pledge to establish the Donn M. and Joan D. Sullivan Family Library Endowment Fund.