New Gift from Anonymous Donor Helps UB Honors Program Approach Halfway Mark on Its $10 Million Campaign Goal

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- With an unwavering commitment to educating the best and the brightest students, the anonymous donor whose contributions started, and have been the major force behind, the University at Buffalo's Distinguished Honors Scholars Program has given the program another cash donation of $800,000.

The latest gift brings the donor's total donations -- some of which were given before the current campaign was launched -- to $6.4 million over the past seven years.

This gift also has boosted the efforts of the larger University Honors Program to raise $10 million as its goal in the university's $250 million campaign to $4,862,935.

John N. Walsh III, a Western New York insurance executive and civic leader who is chair of the honors campaign committee, said, "We are all privileged to focus on the University Honors Program as a key component of this campaign" and grateful for donors who understand the importance of supporting academically gifted students.

"The honors students are students who enrich the morale of a campus, they provide glue to the faculty who wish to teach them and they increase the stature of this university because a growing and continually successful honors program is a tide that raises significant university boats," noted Walsh.

"With our support, there is no limit to the professional, scientific and civic contributions that these future leaders can make," he added. "However, we need more than the anonymous donor, who has certainly been generous both before and during the campaign, if we are to succeed in reaching our goal."

Walsh said the money raised would be used for additional scholarships, to expand and endow the Distinguished Honors Program, for faculty support and to provide the capital funds for an honors building.

Josephine A. Capuana, administrative director for the University Honors Program, said she is thrilled that donors are "beginning to recognize the value of this extraordinary program that has such a direct, positive, life-changing impact on the students."

Capuana said 150 honors students will graduate May 13, bringing the total number of alumni of the University Honors Program to more than 1,000. She added that the oldest alumni are "just beginning to hit their stride professionally" because most extend their academic lives by attending graduate schools whether here at UB or elsewhere.

The University Honors Program began 20 years ago with 20 students who received scholarships to help with tuition and fees and who also participated in honors seminars and colloquia. The number of honors students has grown annually and next fall some 235 freshman are expected to join the program where they will enjoy special academic opportunities in addition to receiving annual scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $4,000.

Included in the incoming honors group are 17 Distinguished Honors Scholars whose scholarships cover tuition, room and board, books and fees, a five-figure support package that enables UB to compete with the very best colleges and universities in the country for these exceptional students. The Distinguished Honors Program began in 1995 with a $1.6 million cash gift from the anonymous donor, who has continued making $800,000 cash gifts annually to it, but says donations from others also are important to maintaining and growing the program.

Donors who have responded to the challenge include Burton Greenstein, who has made a $365,000 bequest commitment; the late Eleanor Millonzi whose $250,000 gift was designated for honors students in the creative and performing arts; a 1949 UB graduate who has made an anonymous pledge of $150,000 and another anonymous donor who's giving $40,000 to support one Distinguished Honors Scholar for four years.

Another is the 43 x 79 Foundation, with a four-year, $48,000 gift designated for two honors students "who are committed to the Buffalo area and may become future business and community leaders in Western New York."

Walsh noted: "In addition, a number of other gifts to the campaign have significantly benefited the university in areas which are of importance to honors students, even though the gifts themselves may not have been credited to the honors campaign."

These gifts contribute to UB's $250 million campaign, one of the largest ever conducted by a public university in New York and New England. Although it's the fifth major fund-raising campaign conducted by UB, it's the first national/international campaign, the first university-wide campaign and the first to be alumni-driven with campaign volunteer leaders from all over the country. Funds raised will be used to enrich academic programs, support students ranging from undergraduates to post-doctoral students and to enhance university life.

If you would like to contribute to the University Honors Program, call Margaret Phillips at 716-645-6000, ext. 1178 or mcp2@buffalo.edu. More information about the program may be obtained by visiting its Web site at http://wings.buffalo.edu/provost/honors/.

For information on how you can support the University at Buffalo, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/giving.