U prepares for capital campaign
Hoping to improve academic standards for faculty and students, MSU’s colleges and departments have started making headway in the university’s second capital campaign.Although the dollar goal of the massive fund-raising effort has not been released, university officials say the campaign is well on its way to supporting endowments, scholarships and building projects, such as the Biomedical and Physical Science Center under construction.Nearly $217 million was raised in MSU’s last capital campaign - which ran from 1988 to 1993 - to support the horticultural demonstration gardens, the addition to the college of business and endowments in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.University officials already raised $121 million last year that will go toward the campaign’s total.The fund-raising effort, similar to those at other Michigan and Big Ten schools, gives officials throughout the university an opportunity to focus on academic efforts, said Marti Heil, associate vice president for University Development.“It’s a structured and organized methodology of raising money in the private sector,” Heil said.