For Immediate Release — April 22, 2008
Generous Donors Put Institute Near Its "Campaign for Tennessee" Goal
Dr. Joe DiPietro, Vice President for
Agriculture
Comments of Dr. Joe DiPietro, Vice President for Agriculture
I am so proud to report the Institute’s part of UT’s one billion dollar Campaign for Tennessee.
As of today, we stand at more than $57 million dollars - nearly 70 percent of our goal. Given that the campaign hasn’t been going on for very long, that is quite remarkable.
We originally had a goal of $55 million, but met that quickly. So we raised our goal to $85 million, and appear to be well on our way to achieving that ambitious total very soon.
On April 17, the Deans and I were honored to be part of the official kickoff of the public phase for the “Campaign for Tennessee” at Thompson-Boling Arena. Dr. John Petersen announced that UT has raised more than $704 million dollars - more than 70 percent of the one billion dollar goal so far. That money comes from some 88,000 donors, and the campaign will run until December 2011. Funds raised from the Campaign are key to our success – now, next year and for decades and decades to come.
The kickoff event was spectacular, and UTIA was well represented by faculty, staff, generous donors and some of our top CASNR and Veterinary College students. Several of our people were involved in the coordination of the kickoff, and UTIA was prominently featured.
Here are just three examples of how private giving has had an impact on our students, research and services. There are many more examples like these where giving has made a difference in the level of programs and services the UT Institute of Agriculture is able to offer. For that we are very grateful.