UNH Announces $100 Million Campaign to Celebrate Centennial

The campaign, The Charger Challenge, which has already raised $49 million during its quiet phase, will support funding for student scholarships, faculty research, and new construction and facility renovations. The campaign objectives are explained at http://chargerchallenge.newhaven.edu.

"This campaign is an important next step in continuing the momentum the university has built up over the last decade," said President Steven H. Kaplan. "It will strengthen our foundation and help the university achieve even greater success." 

A centerpiece of the campaign is a $35 million Innovation Center, a project-based, collaborative learning space that will feature classrooms and a cutting-edge maker space for students and faculty who are working on special projects.

"Our new Innovation Center will bring together students across disciplines in interactive, experiential learning spaces," Kaplan said. "Communications students, for example, will collaborate with students in such fields as industrial design and electrical engineering to create the next generation of wireless devices. The space will foster active, hands-on and cross-disciplinary learning that will enable our students to tackle some of the most daunting challenges facing their generation in areas as diverse as national security, climate change and new media."

The campaign announcement was made virtually to the university’s 55,000 alumni and others at noon today, said Stephen J. Morin, vice president for university advancement. On Saturday night, the campaign was unveiled to more than 400 of the University’s top contributors at the 33rd Alumni Scholarship Ball, an annual black-tie event that the university this year called the Innovation Celebration.

The guests who arrived at the David A. Beckerman Recreation Center for the ball walked through a tunnel of photos depicting the university’s history. UNH was founded in 1920 as a division of Northeastern University. Located on the campus of Yale University, the college had an initial class of 13 students.

A highlight of Saturday’s ball was a showcase of student work. Fine arts students from UNH’s Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts demonstrated sculptures they made using 3D printers, while engineering students showcased a bartending robot and a hovercraft. Other displays included a music and sound recording studio and economics students leading game-theory activities that examine decision-making.

"Our graduates have impacted countless people’s lives and contributed to the state, regional, national and global economies," said Kaplan. "The Charger Challenge will help us continue to build on our impressive past while becoming an even stronger engine of economic transformation. The return on investment for our donors will be lives transformed and a better world in which to live."

About the University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. The university enrolls approximately 1,800 graduate students and more than 4,600 undergraduates.