Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, the College of Arts & Letters has reached its $20 million Empower Extraordinary Capital Campaign goal and looks to build upon this momentum to reach yet higher.

“We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who have so generously contributed to the success of our campaign, which is helping to transform the lives of our students,” said Christopher P. Long, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “With the momentum generated from the success of this campaign, we now aspire to greater achievement as we advance the College from a position of national prominence to one of international leadership.”

Several major gifts were instrumental to the success of the College’s campaign, including:

• Dr. Thomas Yunck – $2.092 million to establish the Yunck Family Endowed Chair in Interdisciplinarity and $2.092 million to endow the John and Ruth Yunck Professor for Comparative Literature
• Henry O. Timnick – $2 million to endow the Timnick Chair in the Humanities
• William and Audrey Farber – $1.5 million to endow the William and Audrey Farber Family Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History
• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation – $1.2 million for the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) Grant Fund
• Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) – $750,000 to support the Critical Diversity Residency Program
• Michael and Elaine Serling – $500,000 toward the endowment for the William and Audrey Farber Family Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History
• Sam and Mary Austin – $300,000 as lead donors among a group of retired faculty who contributed $750,000 to the construction of a new campus home for MSU’s Summer Circle Theatre

The College of Arts & Letters set an original capital campaign goal of $10 million, which it surpassed by the end of 2016, or a little over a year after the public phase of MSU’s Empower Extraordinary Capital Campaign began. The College then doubled its goal to $20 million for the final phase of the campaign, which runs through 2018. The three core fundraising priorities of our campaign continues to be:

• Endowed faculty positions
• Graduate fellowships
• Enriching the undergraduate experience

“Investment in people has always been the focus of our campaign,” Long said. “Attracting, retaining, and cultivating talent will enable us to elevate the education we provide to the next generation of engaged, global citizen leaders.”

Key initiatives within the undergraduate experience priority include:

• Citizen Scholars program, which launched in fall 2016 and challenges students to perform at a higher level academically while gaining experience in experiential learning environments. Students in the program receive financial assistance to use on study abroad, internships, undergraduate research, or other approved educational experiences.

• The Excel Network, which launched this fall, is a central resource for all students in the College of Arts & Letters for experiential learning, career and professional development, student advising, and alumni relations.

Michigan State University recently announced it has surpassed its $1.5 billion Empower Extraordinary Capital Campaign goal, more than a year before the campaign is set to conclude. The campaign, which publicly launched in October 2014, exceeded fundraising goals in areas such as student scholarships and support for student and community programs and will continue through December 31, 2018, with a focus on funding several key initiatives, including increasing the number of endowed faculty positions.