The Pilot baseball team’s annual fund raiser, the Diamond Dinner, has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 1 due to inclement weather conditions over the weekend of February 8. The rescheduled event will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Bauccio Commons, and will feature Major League Baseball manager Dusty Baker as guest speaker. Additional details will be posted at up.edu and PortlandPilots.com.
Development
$4M Dundon-Berchtold RISE Campaign Gift
The University of Portland has announced a RISE Campaign donation of $4 million from Amy Dundon-Berchtold and Jim Berchtold ’63, to create an endowment for the Dundon-Berchtold Fund for Moral Development and Applied Ethics. The gift, which was announced at the recent annual retreat of the board of regents, will have a significant and lasting impact on the University, according to president-elect Rev. Mark Poorman, C.S.C., who was instrumental in the creation of the fund. The gift will create an endowment, providing for sufficient operating funds and an endowed directorship.
The Berchtolds provided seed money two years ago to create an initiative that focuses on character formation and applied ethics. The initiative includes “The Character Project,” which offers a venue for students to engage in guided discussions as to how personal value systems and beliefs can influence moral character. Fr. Poorman created a similar program at the University of Notre Dame, where he previously team-taught a class with University regent Carolyn Woo. Amy Dundon-Berchtold is also a member of UP’s board of regents.
Amy Dundon-Berchtold became familiar with the Portland community and University of Portland largely through her husband, Jim Berchtold, a 1963 UP graduate. The couple met following the loss of both of their spouses. The couple began discussing the idea of moral formation and applied ethics during a University trip in 2011 that included several priests from the Congregation of Holy Cross. During discussions on that trip with Fr. Poorman and others, the couple made an on-the-spot exploratory gift of $25,000. Several months later, after the initial project was fine-tuned, the couple donated $500,000 to bring Fr. Poorman’s vision to reality.
The Dundon-Berchtold gift is part of the University’s RISE Campaign, which was announced in December 2010 and seeks to raise $175 million by 2014. The campaign has raised more than $172 million to date and is one of the largest development campaigns ever for a Pacific Northwest private college or university. For more information contact the development office at 7395 or hanna@up.edu.
$100,000 to RISE Campaign
The development office has announced RISE Campaign gifts totaling $100,000 from two members of the University’s board of regents. The donors and their gifts are John (Jack) Block ’71 ($50,000) and Ted Winnowski ($50,000).
Block graduated from the University of Portland in 1971 with a business administration degree and is president of Block Electric Co. Inc. He has served on the board since 2000. From his donation, $25,000 will go to the Pamplin School of Business Administration and $25,000 to the future Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center. He began his career with Block Electric immediately after earning his degree and became the company’s president in 1980.
Winnowski, a financial and corporate consultant, is also a strategic member of Columbia Business Advisors, a private consulting firm in the Northwest, plus Veber Partners, an investment banking firm. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of Centennial Bank and Centennial Bancorp, Portland. Winnowski has served on the board since 1994, including nearly six years as chair. He recently served as a board member for Regence BlueCross and BlueShield of Oregon, is the former Honorary Consul for the Republic of Poland in Oregon, and is honorary board chair for the Portland Chamber of Commerce (currently Portland Business Alliance).
The gifts are part of the University’s RISE Campaign, which was announced in December 2010 and seeks to raise $175 million by 2014. The campaign has raised more than $168 million to date and is one of the largest development campaigns ever for a Pacific Northwest private college or university.
For more information contact development at 7395 or hanna@up.edu.
$85,533 Romanaggi Gift to RISE
The University has received a RISE Campaign donation of $85,533 from Don Romanaggi, M.D., an alumnus and longtime supporter of the University. His gift benefits student scholarships at the University, upgrades to Don V. Romanaggi M.D. Hall, and enhancements of Joe Etzel Field. Romanaggi graduated from UP in 1956 and then earned his medical degree in 1960 from Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine. His medical practice in Portland specialized in treatment of allergy, asthma, and immunology. In 1997, he retired from active practice after 31 years. While practicing medicine, he also was an associate professor of the volunteer teaching faculty at Oregon Health Sciences University.
Romanaggi and his late wife Agnes, a 1959 UP graduate, have been generous to the University over the years. They were the major donors to the Old Science Hall that in November 2010 was renamed Romanaggi Hall. The gift helped fund new windows throughout, renovation of the third floor, roof improvements, and the first thorough cleaning of its masonry in seventy years. The Romanaggis, who were married for almost 50 years, also made an estate planning gift to provide continued maintenance of the building. They are the originators and major contributors to the Rev. John Molter, C.S.C. Endowed Chair in Science. The gift honored the professor from whom he once earned a dollar. Molter had promised a dollar to any student who got an A in his science class, and those were rare dollars indeed. They also established and funded the Romanaggi Endowed Scholarship in Pre-Med and the Rev. Gregory Lombardo, C.S.C. Scholarship in Religion. After Agnes’ passing in 2008, Romanaggi funded the Agnes M. Romanaggi Environmental Lab in Donald Shiley Hall.
Romanaggi’s gift is part of the RISE Campaign, which was announced in December 2010 and seeks to raise $175 million by 2014. The campaign has raised more than $168 million to date and is one of the largest development campaigns ever for a Pacific Northwest private college or university. For more information contact development at 7395 or hanna@up.edu.
601 Challenge Benefits New Recreation Center
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.
13th Annual Diamond Dinner, Feb. 8
The athletics department is excited to announce that Major League Baseball manager Dusty Baker will be speaking at the 13th annual Diamond Dinner, sponsored by Red Lion Hotel on the River. The Diamond Dinner has become Pilot baseball’s primary fundraiser and is scheduled for Saturday, February 8, in the Bauccio Commons. Tickets are $55 each or $440 for a table of eight and is open to the public. Festivities begin with a social hour and a silent auction starting at 5 p.m.; dinner is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the program is planned to begin at 7 p.m. Anyone interested in attending should contact Laura Hanna, development, at 8607 or hanna@up.edu.
New Faculty/Staff Giving Record
Congratulations are in order for UP faculty and staff, who set a new Faculty and Staff Campaign giving record of 68.4 percent participation in the recently completed 2013 campaign. That means more than 469 employees participated, a significant change from 170 participants in 2010. Congratulations (and delicious Bon Appetit spice cakes) to Laurie Dizney, biology; Larry Casian, men’s baseball; and Barbara Hughes, mailing services, for tying and then breaking the record for most employee donors in one week. Faculty and staff are welcome to make gifts to the University at any time, but are only solicited during the annual campaign. Congratulations again, and look for more fun prizes and incentives next year in October. For more information contact Diane Dickey, development, at 8130 or dickey@up.edu.
Faculty-Staff Giving Extended to Nov. 22
The Faculty-Staff Giving Committee is extending the campaign through Friday, November 22, and asks for your help and participation in setting a new record for faculty and staff giving. In this final week they are aiming for a new five-day giving record by asking an additional 80 employees to participate. The two donors who equal the record and break the record will each receive a Bob Appetit cake, perfect for the holidays.
On November 22, there will also be two sets of random drawings, with winners announced on Monday November 25. In the first, two donors making a gift between November 13 and 22 will be eligible for a Fred Meyer gift card; in the second, every donor to the campaign will be included in a drawing for one of six gifts, including:$25 Trader Joe’s gift cards, New Seasons gift cards, and a lovely flowering plant.
Last week’s random drawing recipients were Maribeth McGowan, education, and Leland Hansen from physical plant, who each received two bottles of wine. A third name was also drawn: congratulations to Carolyn Connolly, museum coordinator, who receives a bottle of Prosecco Superiore! For more information contact Diane Dickey, development, at 8130 or dickey@up.edu.
New Record for Faculty/Staff Rise Campaign
Diane Dickey would like to thank the 162 faculty and staff members who gave during the first nine days of the Faculty-Staff campaign. That’s nearly twice the donors from the same period last year, not to mention a lot of folks who will be enjoying coffee, tea, or specialty drinks courtesy of Bon Appetit.
The goal this year is 70 percent participation; for a total of 492 participants. That means we need to add 330 more faculty and staff donors between now and November 18. Remember: the committee is asking for your participation, and a gift in any amount from $1 to $1,000 (or more, if you just won the lottery) counts toward that goal. Donors are free to give to the Recreation and Wellness Center or whatever is of the most interest to you on campus, whether it’s general giving to the UP Fund, financial aid, campus ministry, performing and fine arts, athletics, or a favorite school or CAS department.
So far, no department has reached 100 percent, although a couple of the smaller departments are getting close. In the larger departments, Physical Plant leads the pack with 21 donors to date; Athletics is close behind with 17 donors; and CAS and the School of Education are leading the schools with 19 and 13 donors apiece. Word has it that the physical plant, which topped the charts last year with 78 percent participation, is thinking about issuing a challenge to other campus offices. They aren’t kidding, so keep an eye on your inbox. For more information contact Diane Dickey, development, at 8130 or dickey@up.edu.
Promotion For Bryce Strang
J. Bryce Strang has been promoted to senior associate vice president for development, effective immediately. He will also become a member of the President’s Leadership Cabinet.
Since 2003, Strang has been a vital member of the University of Portland and a critical and successful leader within the university relations division. He oversees the philanthropic endeavors of the University, including the $175 million Rise Campaign. Under his leadership annual giving, planned giving and major gifts have all experienced marked increases in success.
Prior to coming to UP, Strang’s career included eight years as executive director of the Arthritis Foundation, Oregon Chapter, and sixteen years with Providence Health and Services. Please congratulate Bryce on his well-deserved promotion. For more information contact the president’s office at 7101 or simek@up.edu.