University Times

Pitt is closing in on the $600 million mark in its $1 billion fund-raising campaign, Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg reported at the June 19 trustees meeting.

“This year, in the midst of a terribly challenged economy, we expect to have received more cash contributions — about $90 million — than at any year in our history,” he said.

And the number of donors is growing. “More than 81,000 donors have now contributed to this campaign. Even more amazing is the fact that nearly 37,000 of those donors are new donors, people who had never given a gift to the University of Pittsburgh until they were asked to support this campaign,” said Nordenberg.

About 30 percent of these new donors gave $50,000 or more, he said.

In the campaign’s first year, 23 percent of the money raised came from individual donors. “This year, we expect roughly 38 percent support from individuals,” Nordenberg said.

The chancellor also reported that:

• Pitt is approaching the $500 million mark in sponsored research funding this year, up from $433 million last year and $230 million during 1995-96.

• Freshman applications at the Pittsburgh campus for the fall total 17,440, an 11 percent increase over last year’s record-setting pace. Among applicants who have made deposits, 44 percent graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes (compared with 21 percent in 1995) and 75 percent were in the top 20 percent (compared with 43 percent in 1995).

In other business, trustees voted to raise the Bradford campus’s student health fee from $17 to $50 per term for full-time students for each fall and spring term, beginning this fall.

— Bruce Steele