Maine Perspective Front Page
Three Alumni to Donate $5 Million for Academics
Three alumni have promised the University of Maine nearly $5 million for academic programs and scholarships, reflecting the University's continued efforts to attract large gifts from private donors and the willingness of its graduates to provide for the next generation of students.
In recent months, Robert Buchanan, Class of '44, has promised a gift currently valued at $2.6 million to create an endowment for undergraduate scholarships; John Murphy, Class of '64, has promised a minimum of $1.3 million for a faculty chair in the Maine Business School; and Dennis Rezendes, Class of '57, has promised $1 million for projects in public administration and philosophy.
Each of the promised gifts will remain in trust until the donor's death, a common arrangement with estate giving. Once received, the gifts will create endowment funds that will rest with the University of Maine Foundation.
"Alumni are responding increasingly to the University's need for private support," says Gary Porto, director of major gifts. "They value their education, and many feel a debt to the University for the benefits they have received as a result of that education."
The announcement of the three promised gifts comes two years after the end of the successful Campaign for Maine, a five-year effort that raised $67.8 million for academic programs, research, new construction, scholarship and faculty endowments and a variety of other projects.
The new gifts show that private giving continues to play an integral part in the financial strength of the University.
Overall giving from private sources to the Office of University Development, University of Maine General Alumni Association, University of Maine Foundation and the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation has continued to climb, jumping from about $9.1 million in fiscal year '95 to $15.1 million this past fiscal year, according to Robert Holmes, vice president of University Development.
Ninety-two percent of these funds support the academic and research mission of the University, he says.
"Better than $9 out of every $10 raised each year from private donors benefit non-athletic programs, such as scholarships, academic departments, faculty endowments, the Maine Center for the Arts, equipment for Hudson and Carnegie Museums, funds for academic departments and even things like instruments for the University's symphonic band," Holmes says.
Holmes believes that, as more people pledge major amounts to the University, others also will step forward. That proved true earlier this year when authors and alumni Stephen and Tabitha King pledged a total of $4 million over four years. They designated half the money for student scholarships and half for new faculty in the liberal arts.
In taking a leadership position, the Kings highlighted the University's need for private support to maintain high-quality programs. "What the Kings' gift did was reinforce in the minds of donors that they had done the right thing," Porto says.
- Buchanan's promised gift, currently valued at $2.6 million, will create the Dr. Robert D. Buchanan Scholarship Fund for undergraduate students from Maine. The money, now in a charitable trust, will go to the University of Maine Foundation after the deaths of Buchanan, a retired California dentist, and his wife.
- Murphy's promised gift of at least $1.3 million will establish the John Murphy Chair in Business. Income from the endowment will fund all or a portion of the salary of an outstanding faculty member in the Maine School of Business, with the goal of ensuring that UMaine continues to offer high-quality undergraduate programs in business. Murphy recently retired after a career with Ford Motor Co.
- The promised gift of $1 million from Rezendes will support projects in public administration and philosophy. Recedes is a former city manager of New Haven, Conn., who later established a successful chain of nursing homes offering hostel care for elderly people. He lives now in Illinois.
"All of these are good examples of how alumni are being asked to step forward and are stepping forward," Porto says. "Their No. 1 objective is to help the University of Maine maintain quality education. Their No. 2 objective is to repay the institution for the excellent education they received."