Together, We Shape the Future
Dear students, faculty and staff members,
On Friday, the University publicly announced the largest single fundraising campaign in its history.
Together: The Campaign for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette aims to raise $500 million so that we can further empower student success, embolden our academic and research missions, and deepen our commitment to the community we are proud to serve.
To date, the generosity of alumni and friends has enabled us to raise $303 million in gifts and pledges toward the comprehensive campaign’s half-billion-dollar goal.
And it is your work – in classrooms and labs, in athletic competition, through community service – that has inspired this extraordinary level of giving. Donors are willing to support us because you prove every day that an investment in our University is an investment in our region as a whole.
So, while I am grateful to the more than 25,000 individuals and organizations who have given to this campaign so far, I am equally as thankful – and proud – of all of you for the role you’ve played in getting us to this moment.
Friday’s announcement was the public launch of a fundraising initiative that’s been underway since 2016. You may have already noticed the results of the campaign’s initial phases and benefited from them.
So far, the campaign has led to the creation of four endowed chairs and 34 endowed professorships, and 122 endowed student scholarship funds.
Alumni and friends have chosen to support the construction and renovation of teaching and learning spaces in several academic colleges. Their generosity has helped us build and improve athletics facilities and, just this year, inspired the two largest philanthropic gift commitments in University history.
The campaign’s results to date provide incredible momentum for the public phase that began on Friday. And all of you will help ensure we reach – and perhaps exceed – the audacious goal we’ve set.
Time and again, the University has proven that there’s nothing we can’t achieve when we work toward a common goal.
We have never been as ready as we are now to shape the future.
And, together, through this campaign, that’s exactly what we are going to do.
Thank you and Geaux Cajuns!
Dr. Joseph Savoie
President