A month after laying out her goals for the School of Arts and Sciences, Dean Rebecca Bushnell must now find the money to put them into action.
Although Bushnell says her vision for the school is at least five years away from being completely instituted, she is laying the groundwork for a fundraising campaign now.
But getting SAS alumni to give as much money as graduates of Penn's other schools is difficult, school officials say, when the average College graduate earns less than other Penn graduates.
Bushnell's plan includes aggressive faculty recruitment and building renovations which she outlined last month. She has not indicated what the total price tag might be.
So far in 2005, SAS has raised $52 million in donations, while the Wharton School has raised $61 million. The SAS undergraduate division alone graduates more students each year than Wharton as a whole.
"Many [SAS] alumni go into low-paying but incredibly important careers," Vice Dean of External Affairs Jean-Marie Kneeley said. "This is not good preparation for becoming a major donor."
For the Class of 2004, the average SAS graduate earned $40,073 per year, while the average Wharton graduate earned $52,267. This discrepancy affects the willingness of alumni to donate, Kneeley said.
Bushnell said she is currently working to make sure that potential donors understand her vision for Penn's largest school by publicizing her strategic plan and traveling around the world to talk to alumni.
But according to School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Eduardo Glandt, who is responsible for much of his own school's fundraising, the "tipping point" of any capital campaign is finding a lead donor who gives at least a third of the desired funds.
"The train leaves the station the day you have the lead gift," he said.
For SAS, finding those large donations is a difficult step, according to Kneeley.
The average alumni donation to SAS is $100,000 and is paid over a five-year period.
But Wharton, for example, often receives larger donations from more than 160 foundations and corporations through a school-wide program called the Wharton Partnership, which Kneeley said helps the school find potential donors.
Wharton graduates "have reasons to stay connected [to their school] professionally," Kneeley said. "It's an important sense of networking. Professional communities begin in school and extend into [the] business world."
Kneeley said that there does not seem to be the same level of cohesiveness within SAS as in Penn's smaller schools.
Some of the new buildings Bushnell wants to raise funds for are intended specifically to "create a sense of unity" for SAS students, Kneeley said. Newly renovated Fisher-Bennett Hall and the planned Weigle Information Commons in Van Pelt Library both feature space for student group work.
With these new initiatives and a growing school endowment, both Kneeley and Bushnell say they have reason to be optimistic about fundraising prospects.
In 1994, the school's endowment was $166 million. As of 2005, it stands at $477 million -- a change that mirrors growth in the University's endowment as a whole.
Over the last decade, "the school has become clearly identified as having a strong future," Bushnell said. "People want to support that."
SAS plan - Gifts to SAS lag behind those for other Penn schools - SAS has raised $52 million in 2005, compared to $61 million raised by Wharton - Average 2004 SAS grad makes $12,000 less than Wharton counterpart
