People and Programs Campaign a big winner for School of Pharmacy

The University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy raised more than $22 million in its six-year People and Programs Campaign, topping its goal of $18 million.

“Our donors and their most generous gifts have laid the groundwork for a very bright future,” says Jeanette Roberts, dean of the school. “We have received critical support for recruiting and retaining exceptional faculty, providing access to students who could not otherwise afford college and allowing the purchase of instruments vital to our research mission. These are transformational areas that would not have been possible without such private support.”

The campaign, launched at the start of 2004, generated 9,861 gifts and pledges. Among the highlights:

• Sixty new funds were established, an 80 percent increase for the School.
• Thirty-four new scholarship funds will help reduce student debt and keep pharmacy education accessible.
• Ten new graduate student support funds will assist Ph.D. candidates.
• Five new endowed chairs will recognize and reward world-class educators, researchers and scholars in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
• Nine new funds will support and advance initiatives, research and programs designed to improve public health.

In the realm of scholarships, a new Pharmacy Alumni Association Great People Matching Scholarship Fund — aligned with the campus priority of providing need-based aid — has generated more than $140,000 to date, and three new, full-tuition “dean’s scholarships” were established.

For faculty support, the George Urdang Chair in the History of Pharmacy, the first of its kind in the nation, was established, and the new Pharmacy Forward Fund will provide targeted resources to the dean to recruit, retain and develop faculty members.

New program funds targeted to improving public health include the Pharmacy Global Health Fund, which will advance the school’s new global health initiative.

“More than any time in its history, the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy is uniquely positioned to expand its role as an international leader in a new era of professional and graduate education, cutting-edge scientific research and discoveries that will improved health and life,” Roberts says. “The promise for the future has never been greater, thanks in large part to the success of the People and Programs Campaign.”

For more on the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy, visit http://pharmacy.wisc.edu.