The University of Mississippi held its fifth annual Giving Day on April 9-10, raising $11.5 million through just over 3,000 donations from alumni and students.
Giving Day is a day open for donors to give back to the university’s 10 academic schools plus the College of Liberal Arts, among other organizations. In promoting Giving Day, the university aims to raise as much money as possible through collective donations to support university programs, scholarships, facilities and other areas of the university.
The biggest gifts given during Giving Day were three seven-figure gifts for the Department of Chemical Engineering, the School of Journalism and New Media and STEM scholarships for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College.
Barbara Beckmann committed a $5 million gift to the Department of Chemical Engineering, which will be named in her honor. Jean and Jerry Jordan committed a $4 million gift to initiate the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation. Jan and George Pilko made a $1.5 million donation gift to the Excellence in STEM Scholarship Endowment.
John O’Haver is a Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering. He currently serves as the interim chair for the Department of Chemical Engineering.
“We are very excited and thankful for Ms. Beckmann’s gift,” O’Haver said. “ It will provide resources that will improve the educational experience for our students for all of the years to come. We are very proud to be named in her honor.”
Andrea Hickerson, Dean of the School of Journalism and New Media, believes Giving Day is a great opportunity for the school to not only highlight some of the needs that it has but also allow students to play an active role in journalistic innovation.
“I’m truly honored and humbled that they would entrust us with that gift,” Hickerson said. “I think it’s (the donation is) going to raise the whole profile of the school. It centers journalism and communities in a way that all communities need now, and it allows us to take a leading role in advocating for journalism and civic life.”
The Pilko’s made a donation toward the Excellence in STEM Scholarship Endowment that they founded in April of last year.
“I want more young Mississippians to have the same incredible opportunity that a degree from the University of Mississippi provides and do not want financial issues to be what stops a gifted young scholar from achieving that goal,” Pilko said in a College of Liberal Arts press release on April 16.
The Giving Day campaign’s mission is also to bring the university community together around a common cause of supporting the institution.
Angela Atkins, associate director of annual giving in the Office of University Development, believes that Giving Day allows students to support causes and programs that are important to them through their donations.
“Joining together with fellow students to give at one time and come together at one time to collectively support the things that they feel are important is so impactful,” Atkins said. “I think (the campaign) allows students, even giving at a small level, to have as much impact as an older person giving at a large level because we’re all coming together at one time.”
To promote the university’s success and encourage students to give, UM provided opportunities for students to get involved in the campaign.
Graduating seniors could donate $24 to join the Flagship Society and receive an honor cord to wear at graduation. The College of Liberal Arts offered students the unique opportunity to sign the wall in the historic turret — which is usually closed — as a prize for donations to that school.
Atkins expressed that she was pleased with the successful outcome of this year’s campaign.
“I don’t think that was just the annual giving team. I honestly think that the entire university has gotten behind the concept,” Atkins said. “Ole Miss loves a party, and Giving Day is just a party— a party for philanthropy. The entire university has finally embraced it on an institutional level to make a difference.”
