The University of Rochester is preparing to launch what President Sarah Mangelsdorf is calling the largest comprehensive fundraising campaign in the institution’s history.
The "For Ever Better" campaign comes at a time she described as "a transitional period for higher education and academic medicine.
"As we move forward with our ambitious plans to become the institution that we want to be, our university, like our peers across the country, faces challenges," she wrote in a open letter welcoming students, faculty and staff back for the new academic year.
Those challenges have brought disruptions to research funding, international admissions and campus climate, she wrote.
At last report, UR has seen more than 20 federal grant terminations translating to a loss of about $9 million. That's a fraction of the university’s total $500 million in research funding. In addition, federal cuts to Medicaid could result in a loss of $20 million to Strong and Highland hospitals.
UR has seen three straight years of record fundraising. The new campaign — focused on research, access and affordability and other investments — will launch during Meliora Weekend later this month.
In the meantime, the university has joined in lawsuits challenging the federal cuts. And, this summer, Mangelsdorf committed $8.5 million to new transdisciplinary research centers, which aim to bring experts together from different fields to tackle what UR Provost Nicole Sampson has described as "real world, complicated problems that are best addressed with varied expertise."
"These initiatives both strengthen our ability to secure external funding and they open doors to philanthropy and position us at the leading edge of current national research priorities," Sampson said, speaking during a campuswide webinar in July. "We're continuing to invest strategically in areas such as quantum science, health and sustainability. ... and what I want to emphasize here is that everyone needs to keep submitting federal grants.
"That may feel counterintuitive in this moment of pressure," she continued, "but it's really incumbent on the research committee community to make clear the number of ideas and volume of excellent work that's here and not to inadvertently provide impetus for cutter and cutting federal funding agency budgets due to a shortage of research proposals."
