The University of Missouri-Rolla has raised $111.3 million toward a $200 million goal in its current fundraising effort, the Advancing Excellence Campaign. The university publicly launched the campaign today. It has been under way since July 1, 2003.

The campus has already raised 56.7 percent of the $200 million it seeks to raise by June 30, 2010.

Gifts to the Advancing Excellence Campaign will enhance UMR’s ability to attract top students and faculty, improve programs and facilities, and increase faculty research grants.

“This university has accomplished great things and must continue to discover, convey, and apply knowledge to solve problems for our technological world,” says Gary Forsee, chairman and chief executive officer of Sprint Nextel and national campaign chair for the Advancing Excellence Campaign. “If we are to continue our tradition of excellence, we must invest in the future of this university. I can imagine no better investment than providing a world-class education to some of the most driven and disciplined students in the nation.”

Gifts to the campaign over the past four years have made a significant impact:

* Contributions of $22.1 million have endowed 136 student scholarships. Eighty-eight percent of UMR students receive some form of financial aid and 38 percent come from families with incomes of $40,000 or below. The goal for student support is $35 million.

* Donors have contributed $6.1 million of a $26 million goal to support endowed faculty positions. UMR graduate Richard Vitek and his wife, Marilyn, of Dana Point, Calif., provided a lead gift of nearly $800,000, to establish a faculty chair in biochemistry. The Viteks’ gift, combined with support from the Foundation for Chemical Research and Gary and Sherry Forsee establishes a $1.3 million endowment for the new position.

* The campaign has raised $31 million of a $32 million goal for program support. Undergraduate research, study abroad programs, learning communities and programs that introduce science and engineering at UMR to Missouri’s K-12 students are among the programs to benefit from the funding.

* Donors have contributed $15.5 million of a $37 million goal to enhance facilities and equipment. The renovation and expansion of Toomey Hall, UMR’s mechanical and aerospace engineering complex, was made possible in large part by a $5 million gift from UMR mechanical engineering graduate John Toomey and his wife, Mary, of Lorton, Va., and their family.

* Corporate grants have totaled $36.6 million. The goal is $70 million.

“The success of this $200 million campaign will ensure that this remarkable institution maintains its edge as one of the world’s great technological research universities,” says UMR Chancellor John F. Carney III. “It will equip UMR to transform the world – transform the future – by providing the resources needed to prepare a new generation of leaders.”

The $111.3 million campaign total includes gifts from alumni, corporations, foundations and friends of the university, corporate grants, and faculty, staff and student contributions