Alumni & Friends- Development News

The Campaign for MSU: An Update

$1.2 Billion University Milestone Reached, School of Music Attains $14.9 Million in Gifts

On October 14, 2006, President Lou Anna K. Simon announced that The Campaign for MSU, the university’s capital campaign, has surpassed the goal of raising $1.2 billion in total gifts and pledges – one year ahead of schedule.

Launched on September 20, 2002, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees set an ambitious goal to raise $1.2 billion by 2007. “MSU is among an elite group of universities that have reached the milestone of raising over $1 billion from private sources,” said MSU’s Vice President for University Development Charles H. Webb. “Among those universities, we are only the third public university, along with Berkeley and Purdue, to reach that amount without the added fundraising benefit of a major on-campus medical/research center.”

According to Webb, although the overall campaign goal has been met, there is still a critical need to raise money for endowments. MSU needs to reach and exceed the goal of adding $450 million to MSU’s endowment, he said. More than $361.5 million has been raised so far.

Due to the support of alumni, friends, faculty, staff, corporations and foundations, the School of Music has secured more than $14.9 million in gifts and pledges during The Campaign for MSU. More than half of the funds raised have been directed to named endowments in support of faculty, students, performance, research and outreach efforts.

Thanks to the generous support of donors, the school now has 60 named endowments with a market value of $8.75 million, compared to 10 years ago when the school had 17 named endowments with a market value of $1.33 million. Endowments are gifts made on the condition that the principal is continually preserved and that only a percentage of the investment income is spent annually.

The campaign to raise private support for a new state-of-the-art music building continues. The School of Music and University Development are seeking $20 million in private funds toward this $80 million project, which remains the university’s first priority for capital outlay from the State of Michigan for new construction.

Alumni, faculty, and community support for the project is strong, as evidenced by the more than $3 million in gifts and pledges secured to date. Along with the Byron and Dee Cook Grand Lobby, a $1 million commitment from Ruth Charles was made naming the Dick Charles Jazz Bistro in memory of her late husband. Selma Hollander and her late husband, Stanley, will be recognized with their gift naming the box office in the new building. Merritt and Candy Lutz have named two rooms in the new building: the office of the director and a faculty studio. Audrey and John Leslie, longtime donors and volunteers to the musical arts and humanities at MSU, made the most recent significant naming opportunity for one of the building’s conference rooms.

The highly ranked School of Music has experienced a 100 percent increase in music major enrollment since 1990, with a current population of more than 650 students. The school annually serves more than 2,000 non-majors through a variety of classes and ensemble opportunities. The school’s students come from all corners of the United States and more than 17 nations. Private support remains a critical link to the prominence of the school and its ability to attract and retain the best and brightest faculty and students.

Thank you to the thousands of alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the School of Music for the generous support you have given to our talented and dedicated faculty and students.

Hutcheson Gift Will Endow Faculty Chair in Music Composition

In celebration of the many years of their association with MSU and the School of Music, Jere T. Hutcheson and his wife, Mary, recently documented a charitable bequest through their estate plans to create a named endowment within the School of Music. The Jere Hutcheson Endowed Chair in Music Composition will provide funding for salary, benefits, research, and other related expenses for a faculty member in composition.

This generous future gift of $1.5 million is the first named endowed chair in the school. “We wanted to plant a seed that will help preserve and perpetuate the strength of music composition at MSU,” the Hutchesons said of their planned gift. “We want to assure that MSU’s area of music composition will continue to grow and occupy an important place in the development of the art.”

Hutcheson, who began his teaching career at MSU in 1965, is the author of several books, a two-volume theory text, and more than 100 compositions ranging from large pieces for orchestra, to pieces written for chamber groups and piano solos. One of his most recent works, Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Symphony, premiered at Wharton Center in December 2005.

He has often noted his appreciation of MSU, which he says has provided him with an environment in which he has grown in his scholarship, teaching skills, and in his passion – composition. He has also appreciated the benefits of working side-by-side with conductors, performers, theorists, and musicologists in addition to other composers.

“Jere Hutcheson has made an enormous impact during his 40-year career at MSU creating a legacy of many grateful and talented students as well as a large portfolio of varied and distinguished musical compositions,” said James Forger, director of the School of Music. “We are so grateful to Jere and Mary for their vision and generosity. Their gift will forever perpetuate excellence in composition at MSU.”

The Hutchesons are graduates of MSU: Jere received his Ph.D. in music composition; Mary received a B.S. in food science and human nutrition. “We are confident that our gift supporting a chosen area of academia will be a very fulfilling and long-lasting experience,” Jere said.

Rodman Wilkins Endowment Established for Jazz Studies

Jazz at Michigan State University is alive and very well these days – thanks, in part, to the generous support of Jay Rodman and Wendy Wilkins, who recently completed both current and future gift commitments in support of jazz studies in the School of Music.

The program has grown tremendously over the past 10 years and now boasts more than 50 majors and 150 non-major student participants. The number of faculty members teaching in the program has grown, allowing for an increased range of academic offerings and outreach activities. Private support is expanding, as well.

“We chose jazz studies as one of our planned giving targets for a number of reasons, not the least of which are the personal relationships we enjoy with numerous people in the school and program,” says Rodman, director of communication and publications for International Studies and Programs. Wilkins, former dean of the College of Arts and Letters, is a faculty member in the Department of Linguistics and Languages.

“We enjoy jazz and especially the jazz events that students and the MSU Professors of Jazz put on,” Rodman says. “We have fond memories of our Jazz Train to Chicago experiences and always enjoy the Jazz in the Loft events at Wharton Center. The connections that have been established between the program and the greater Lansing community, the Detroit area schools and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and various other organizations around the state are great examples of outreach. We want this program to flourish long into the future and to be an option for students of all backgrounds. We hope that this planned gift helps support the musical endeavors of future MSU students of jazz.”

The couple arranged for their future gift through a charitable remainder trust establishing the Rodman Wilkins Endowment Fund for Jazz Studies. This fund was created in honor of Rodman’s parents who encouraged and supported their son’s love of music, literature, and the arts. “I saw this giving option as a way to honor my parents, Hubert and Carita Rodman, who have always supported my love of all kinds of music,” Rodman says.

Expenditures from the endowment will be used to support student scholarships, travel, lectures, visiting artists, and other jazz studies initiatives. An estate gift to this endowment will provide significant funding in perpetuity for the program. In addition to this future gift, Rodman and Wilkins give expendable support to jazz studies through monthly MSU payroll deduction contributions.

“Wendy and Jay have been so supportive of the faculty and students in our program,” says Rodney Whitaker, director of jazz studies. “They are among our most loyal followers. Their generous financial support means so much for our faculty and students – they are a part of our family.”

Rodman and Wilkins are hardly newcomers to philanthropy at Michigan State University. The couple has documented two other future gifts to establish endowed funds: one in support of linguistics and cognitive science in memory of Wilkins’ mother, Nettie Wilkins, and the other in support of horse teaching and research in memory of Wilkins’ father, Berne W. Wilkins. Their generosity has been recognized with membership in the Abbot Society, the major giving club that recognizes individuals who have made deferred and cash gifts of between $250,000 and $500,000, and in the Legacy Society.

“We certainly don’t want to leave the impression that jazz is the only part of the School of Music that we have found to be exciting and enriching over the years,” Wilkins says. “We have probably been to many more classical events than jazz events, and are happy that in supporting the jazz program we will also be supporting the school as a whole.”