As students, faculty and staff walk through the Christensen Center at the School of Business, they can see donor names on nearly every booth, table and chair. But even with all of the individual donors, only a very small percentage of alumni give back to the school.
According to Doug Jensen, director of major campaigns at the Development Office, about 13 percent of undergraduate degree-holding alumni with addresses on file donate to the U. This year, about 4 percent of business alumni have donated to the school, according to Jack Brittain, business dean.
“We’re definitely trying to get that percentage up every year,” he said. “But nationwide, public universities don’t do as well as private universities. For a long time, public universities didn’t cultivate alumni relations.”
But in the past 20 years, that has started to change.
“I think public universities have realized that alumni can be an important part of their institutions,” he said.
However, the U’s business school still has a comparatively small percentage of its alumni donating.
“Some schools have 80 and 90 percent of their alumni donating,” said Jana Pohlman, co-chairwoman of a donation drive, and an MBA student, in an earlier interview.
Brittain believes the percentage is small because the business school has not had a sense of community in the past.
In the 1980s and ’90s, an enrollment boom hit the business school, and all of the social areas were taken out to make room for computer labs and offices, Brittain said. Now he is creating more areas for students to socialize.
“The Lund Commons is a place where students can hang out and get to know each other, and that makes a big difference when alumni are thinking about their college experience and if they want to give back to the school,” he said.
That community feeling is starting to show in the students. Geoff Lewis, a finance major graduating this semester, believes he will donate back to the school.
“Right now, I’m just graduating and I don’t have a lot of extra money, but once I start my career, I don’t see why I wouldn’t donate,” he said. “Obviously supporting the school you’re receiving an education from is a very good thing to do.”
While Brittain hopes more students share Lewis’ attitude, he is happy with donations given in the past.
“The dollar amounts of the gifts the school has received have been significant,” Brittian said. “With the community feel I’ve tried to create, I hope the percentage of people donating back increases.”
Data about the amount of money donated to the school in this academic year has yet to be compiled.