University regent and alumnus Rich Baek is challenging young alumni to help raise funds for the University’s proposed Recreation & Wellness Center, set to break ground in May 2014. Baek will make a gift of $50,000 to the center if 601 GOLD alumni (Graduates Of the Last Decade) donate to the University by June 1, 2014. The 601 figure highlights the deadline (6/01) of the challenge. More information about the 601- GOLD Challenge can be found at www.up.edu/601.
The new center will be named in honor of University president Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., who has announced he will step down as president at the end of the 2013-14 academic year. Set for completion in May 2015, the Beauchamp Center will reside on what is now a parking lot at the corner of North Portsmouth and Strong avenues. Currently a total of $20.5 million has been raised for the center, estimated to cost $23 million. Renderings of the building can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kurlp7z.
As of mid-December, the total number of young alumni who have responded to Baek’s challenge is 375, representing 62 percent of the goal and totaling more than $49,000 in gifts, according to Leanne Goolsby, associate director of annual giving.
Baek is a 1993 (master’s in engineering) and 2002 (MBA) graduate of University of Portland. He is the founder and chairman of the VTM Group, one of the “100 best companies to work for” according to Oregon Business Magazine. He has been named Oregon Small Business Person of the Year by the Small Business Administration and has been named one of the “Forty under 40” by the Portland Business Journal. For more information contact the development office at 7395 or hanna@up.edu.