Greetings fellow alumni,

As another academic year comes to a close at GW, I want to share with you some recent successes in fundraising at the University. Throughout the year the Division of Advancement has continued to raise funds to strengthen academic and extra-curricular programming for current and future students.

The division established some challenging goals for this past academic year. Each person has worked tirelessly to meet these goals, and I am proud to report that many impressive and generous contributions have been made. Following are some examples of the many noteworthy gifts GW received over the past year.

• In late April, Russ Ramsey, BBA ’81, donated $1 million to the GW School of Business to create a student-run investment portfolio. This gift is complemented by a gift of $75,000 from George Wellde, MBA ’76, which supports the creation of a graduate class in applied portfolio management in the finance department, which will manage the investment.



• The School of Medicine received a gift of $100,000 from Dr. Cryus Katzen, a friend of the University, for cancer research. The gift is in honor of Dr. Robert Siegel, Dr. Harvey Katzen, MD ’75, GME ’80, and Dr. Bernard Katzen, AA ’34, MD ’38.



• Bourdon Scribner, BA ’33, recently gave $500,000 to the Columbian College for students studying chemistry. This generous gift is in addition to two charitable annuity funds that Scribner created over the last several years.



• The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) received a gift of $100,000 from Betty Mae March in honor of her late husband, Joseph W. March Jr., BS ’54. This fund will provide a scholarship to a SEAS undergraduate studying electrical engineering.

It also brings me great pleasure to share with you that this year’s senior class created the Class of 2005 September 11th Scholarship Fund as their gift to the University. This year’s class had the highest rate of participation in the history of the program, with 22 percent of seniors contributing to this fund. The class raised nearly $40,000 to start its endowment, which will provide funds annually to a rising senior who has served as a first responder or in military service, or to a son or daughter of one of these individuals.

This year’s Law School Class of 2005 also raised money for a class gift, the first of its kind in the history of the Law School. Remarkably, over 50 percent of the class participated, raising nearly $11,000 for the fund, which will benefit the Loan Reimbursement Assistance Program (LRAP), a program that provides loan forgiveness to a significant number of graduates who choose to pursue public interest work.

The class was fortunate to have an anonymous alumni donor offer a 4-to-1 match for every student dollar donated if the class reached 50 percent participation. Since the class exceeded this goal, the total gift to LRAP was more than $50,000. Special thanks go to alumnus Senator Harry Reid, JD ’64, for donating his commencement speech honorarium to the Class of 2005 gift fund.

Each and every gift has been vital in helping The George Washington University become the world-class institution it is today. I hope you will take as much pride in this as we do, as well as in the fact that so many alumni, parents, students, and friends have committed to supporting our alma mater as it reaches ever greater heights.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Mory, BA ’96, JD ’99
Executive Director of Alumni Programs