The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy will raise $175 million by the end of 2022 to support students, faculty, buildings, innovation and global initiatives as part of the Campaign for Carolina.
“As the number one school of pharmacy in the nation, our mission is to create and apply new knowledge to drug development, pharmacy practice and health-care policy,” said Dhiren Thakker, Ph.D., interim dean of the School. “Through the Campaign for Carolina, we will inspire innovation and foster bold endeavors that push the boundaries of our field to help people live longer, healthier lives. “
The School’s priorities during the Campaign for Carolina are
- attracting and training the next generation of pharmacy leaders;
- recruiting, retaining and supporting intensely talented educators and researchers;
- creating a 21st century environment to support learning and discovery;
- funding big ideas in pharmacy education, research and practice; and
- playing a leading role in transforming human health globally.
On Friday, Oct. 6, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill launched the most ambitious fundraising campaign by a university in the history of the state. “For All Kind: the Campaign for Carolina” aims to raise $4.25 billion by Dec. 31, 2022, to foster an innovation generation prepared to lead the world to a better future through research and scholarship, example and ethos. This campaign is the largest in the Southeast and second largest among public institutions in the nation.
Students, faculty, staff, alumni, key stakeholders, campaign leaders and volunteers joined Board of Trustees chairman Haywood Cochrane; Chancellor Carol L. Folt., Ph.D.; and Vice Chancellor for Development David Routh for the announcement, which highlighted several gifts and initiatives supporting the Blueprint for Next, the University’s overarching strategic framework. The blueprint’s key pillars — “Of the Public, for the Public” and “Innovation Made Fundamental” — uphold Carolina’s commitment to grow and evolve while remaining rooted in its public service mission.
“Our ambitious Campaign for Carolina unites us with a shared and meaningful vision for the future of our leading global public research university,” Folt said. “Underlying this clear vision lies the Blueprint for Next, a unifying strategic framework that guides our commitment to Carolina’s historic mission of providing superior educational opportunities at the best and most affordable price, conducting game-changing research, innovating for the public good and bringing health and prosperity to people in our state and beyond.”
The four key priorities of the University’s comprehensive fundraising campaign are:
- Students and the Educational Experience: The New Graduate focuses on scholarships, as well as supporting innovative teaching and experiential learning, with an emphasis on digital- and data-literacy, that prepares students for a fast-changing world. This includes providing access to a globally-focused education and creating buildings and spaces to optimize student success.
- Faculty and Scholarship: The 21st-Century Professoriate focuses on recruiting and retaining world-class faculty and providing an environment that inspires creativity, collaboration and service to the state and beyond. This includes supporting high-potential, high-reward research, creating buildings and spaces to optimize faculty success in teaching and multi-disciplinary research and developing a 21st century Professor of Practice program to ensure students learn from the top professionals in their fields.
- Innovation and Impact: A Culture of Innovation focuses on enhancing Carolina’s position as a preeminent translational research university and accelerating the pace of the University’s entrepreneurial ideas with commercial impact or social promise across the state, nation and world. This includes creating buildings and spaces that foster innovation and multi-disciplinary solutions and expanding thought-provoking arts programming to strengthen creativity and critical thinking among students, faculty and the community.
- Signature Initiatives focus on addressing issues and opportunities that emerge over the course of the campaign and leveraging Carolina’s strengths to remain responsive to the times and needs of the people. Three initial signature initiatives have been announced, with more to come:
- The Carolina Edge – to recruit the very best students
- The Institute for Convergent Science – to translate research into impact
- Arts Everywhere – to bring the arts to everyone on campus
Carolina’s last comprehensive campaign — “Carolina First: The Campaign for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill”— concluded on Dec. 31, 2007, during which more than 194,000 donors contributed $2.38 billion to support and advance UNC-Chapel Hill’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university. At that time, it was the fifth-largest fundraising total among completed campaigns in the history of U.S. higher education and the largest in the South.