Associate Dean Tim Redden

SEAS alumni and friends, I have good news to share.

Great things are happening at U.Va.’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Momentum is obvious wherever you look and each forward step we take is due in large measure to the support we receive from you — our alumni, our friends, and our corporate sponsors and partners.

With approximately 40 percent of our campaign behind us, we’ve raised more than $50 million in pledges, gifts and recorded planned gifts, including $12 million in commitments received in just the last three months. We are greatly encouraged by this outpouring of support and are ever hopeful that this campaign will have a transformational effect on Engineering School academic programs and capital projects when the campaign concludes in 2011.

The broadening interest of faculty and students and the vast increase in engagement on the part of our alums is particularly encouraging. More than 1,000 alumni and friends have joined us at events across the nation since the campaign began, and our tailgates in Darden Court before each home football game are attracting upward of 300 people who come to enjoy the great food, the great music and the opportunity to gather before the games.

Our alums are stepping forward in significant and unique ways to stand behind the School and to encourage other alums to get involved as well. Individual donors who have helped the School recently include James T. “Jimmy” Fang (SE ’95) and his brother Edward Fang (CS ’91), who have worked tirelessly to make connections to young alums and have given generously to support the Annual Fund and the School’s new International Programs initiative. Peter Quick (CE ’78) helped us enter into a historic partnership with the Jefferson Scholars to create the first-ever Jefferson Graduate Fellowships in Engineering. Brenton Halsey (ChE ’51) has made it possible for us to offer financial support for our top undergraduate applicants by establishing a Jefferson Scholarship in Engineering. Michael Russell (CE ’87) has given a gift to establish the first endowed Ridley Scholarship for Engineering, which will provide support for promising African- American students in the School.

We have seen increased corporate engagement as well. Earlier in this publication you read about the School’s ongoing partnership with Micron and our unprecedented partnership with Rolls-Royce — relationships that will bring opportunities for our School and the Commonwealth. Other recent gifts include Aerojet’s support for the Engineering School’s Hy-V program and support from Alcoa, Areva, AutoTrader.com, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, among others.

Rice Hall, our information technology engineering building, becomes closer to a reality every day, and our Annual Fund is a great success. We are grateful for the 1,800 alumni, students, parents, faculty and friends who contributed more than $1 million so far this fiscal year. We are well on our way to achieving our goal of raising $1.7 million unrestricted Annual Fund dollars to help support experiential learning opportunities for our students, state-of-the-art laboratory space and equipment, international learning experiences, innovative new programs, student research, alumni activities and much more.

Annual Fund matching gifts from companies and challenge gifts from generous alumni and friends also play key roles in our annual gift program.

We offer special thanks to our 208 Thornton Society Members who have already contributed leadership gifts to SEAS of at least $2,500 this year. These partnerships with SEAS make a tremendous impact.