As most are aware, the Campaign for Syracuse University surpassed its billion-dollar fundraising goal three months before the official end on December 31, 2012. The milestone announcement was marked on September 13 when more than 1,000 students, staff, friends, and trustees came together to celebrate this accomplishment.
The Falk College is tremendously grateful to all of the alumni, friends and supporters who contributed to the Campaign for Syracuse University so generously, which was launched in 2007. Of the Campaign for Syracuse’s total, $32 million will directly benefit the Falk College.
In fact, it already is.
A desire to honor their families motivated SU alumni David and Rhonda Falk to pledge of $15 million to the College of Human Ecology—one of the largest-ever gifts to SU. In their honor, the College of Human Ecology was renamed the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics in July 2011. The Falks’ gift will allow the college—portions of which are housed in eight different campus buildings—to relocate to a new, central location to be created at MacNaughton and White halls, currently home to the College of Law. The move will occur once the College of Law relocates to Dineen Hall, a new building for which planning is under way.
Eight endowed professorships were established in the Falk College during the Campaign for Syracuse. At this time, four Falk College faculty members have been appointed to these named positions, including: Rick Burton, the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management; Jaipaul Roopnarine; Merril Silverstein, the Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging; and Linda Stone Fish, the David B. Falk Endowed Professor in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Five new endowed scholarships will help the Falk College provide need- and merit-based financial support to attract and retain promising students in all of its academic programs. The newest scholarship program was created by Alejandro Garcia to support students interested in serving the Latino/Hispanic community. The Lomasky Scholar of Student Engagement, established through the support of Jeffrey and Andrea Lomasky, assists undergraduate sport management students in learning, research and professional networking opportunities, such as the SU in LA Sport Management Immersion Program that takes place during Spring Break. And the James L. Stone Legislative Policy Day Endowed Fund will impact social work students well into the future.
The additional funding the Falk College has received from the Campaign for Syracuse continues to support development of new academic programs, including a Certificate of Advanced Study in Global Health, master of science degrees in Global Health and Sport Venue and Event Management, and emerging undergraduate and graduate programs in Food Studies, with additional certificates and programs in-the-works.