Campaign kickoff set for Sept. 23

Campaign kickoff set for Sept. 23

Rice University faculty and staff will celebrate
the public kickoff of the university’s $500 million
fund-raising campaign at a party Sept. 23. The celebration,
hosted by President Malcolm Gillis and his wife, Elizabeth,
will be held under an air-conditioned tent in Founder’s
Court.

The evening will include a buffet dinner,
a program with a multimedia presentation and dancing to
the salsa band Mango Punch. All Rice faculty and staff are
invited to attend and may bring a guest. The event starts
at 6:30 p.m. with a reception, followed by dinner at 7:30
p.m. and dancing until midnight.

“Rice: The Next Century” campaign
is the university’s most ambitious fund-raising effort.
The campaign and its priorities grew out of a rigorous strategic
planning process that began in 1995. The campaign, which
started in 1997, has four core priorities:
• enhance undergraduate education and student life,
• strengthen faculty and graduate programs,
• expand and strengthen outreach and
• grow the annual fund and increase unrestricted gifts.

More than $285 million of the $500 million
goal has been raised in the campaign’s “quiet
phase,” which began in 1997. In that phase, fund-raisers
focused on major gifts from their closest alumni and friends
and aimed to raise approximately half of the goal before
going public.

For more information about the kickoff celebration
contact Jennifer Harding at (713) 348-6094 or <harding@rice.edu>.
The deadline to R.S.V.P. is Sept. 8.