Converging on Gainesville were hundreds of UF's major benefactors to share in the excitement of a gala fundraising evening. It didn't hurt that the Gators were to play Tennessee that same weekend, but it was surely not just football that attracted these close friends of UF back to campus. Most of them care deeply about our academic programs and back up these feelings with generous gifts for their favorite university.
Faculty often have mixed reactions to large fund-raising campaigns.
They realize the overall importance for the university, but we sometimes do an inadequate job of showing them the specific outcomes. Much of this, of course, was in endowments that now provide annual return in perpetuity. CLAS enhanced its scholarship and fellowship capability enormously during that campaign, which now has a direct benefit for over 100 top students each year. And Griffin-Floyd Hall, which houses the departments of statistics and philosophy, was renovated from a derelict shell into a beautiful, functional building. These are only two examples of that campaign's benefits.