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A Toast to Success

Students, faculty, and staff toast the school's success in surpassing their fund-raising goal for Campaign Emory.

School tops Campaign Emory goal ahead of schedule

The week of March 14 started on a high note when Dean Linda McCauley called an impromptu gathering in the nursing school lobby at noon. Faculty, staff, and students cheered and applauded when she announced that the school had surpassed its $20 million fund-raising goal for Campaign Emory. What’s more, the school met its goal two years ahead of schedule and was the first school to reach its goal.

“Here’s to the very best students, staff, faculty, and alumni in the world,” said McCauley as she led a Coca-Cola toast to celebrate the school’s historical accomplishment.

Since Campaign Emory began in 2005, the nursing school has raised more than $20.6 million for student scholarships, faculty research, service-learning projects, and academic programming. More than 3,000 individuals, corporations, and foundations have supported the campaign. Notable accomplishments include:

• Increasing financial aid for the Fuld Segue Program. Created with a gift from the Helene Fuld Health Trust, the program targets aspiring nurse leaders who have undergraduate degrees in other fields and a desire to work in underserved communities.

• Receiving an $8.1 million grant—the largest donation in the school’s history—from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant supports a major initiative to improve maternal and newborn survival rates in rural Ethiopia.

• Raising $100,000 from 265 alumni and friends to create the Elizabeth Mabry Scholarship, named in honor of the longtime faculty member. The scholarship provides aid to deserving BSN students each year.

Although the nursing school has topped its goal, many of its funding needs are yet to be met, noted campaign co-chairs J. David Allen 67C 70D 75DR and Beverly Allen 68C.

“To have early success is thrilling, but more than anything it is a call to continue our work,” says David Allen, an Emory trustee. “More than 80 percent of our students need financial aid to pursue an Emory nursing degree. As long as there are initiatives in the School of Nursing that need additional resources—and there are—we have a job to do.”

Still there is much to celebrate upon reaching a major milestone in the school’s 106-year history.

“We are so grateful to our donors,” says McCauley. “Because of their support, we are advancing our mission to educate nurse leaders and scholars, generate new knowledge, and improve health and health care—all in service to the global community.”—Pam Auchmutey