Monday, March 2, 1998
Campaign UCLA operating ahead of schedule
MED CENTER: Fundraising effort already halfway to goal of
raising total of $1.2 billion
By Kathryn Combs
Daily Bruin Staff
Campaign UCLA, a campus-wide fundraising effort slated to span
seven years, is working better than expected, officials say.
Lucky for anyone involved in the medical sciences at UCLA, half
of the $1.2 billion total is going to support their prospects and
programs.
But where exactly is the money going?
A little more than half of the $600 million will go toward the
Center for the Health Sciences (CHS) reconstruction program, said
Roger Meyer, director of development for the Health Sciences
Development Group.
Of that $600 million, the $330 million going into capital
programs will support four main construction efforts.
Current plans include a new hospital, two additional research
facilities and the completion of the Gonda (Goldschmeid)
Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center.
The overall CHS reconstruction project is estimated to cost $1.1
billion; only $330 million of which is funded by Campaign UCLA.
And while only part of Campaign UCLA construction funds will go
toward the reconstruction project, the difference will be funded by
other state and federal sources, said Sarah Jensen, assistant vice
chancellor for Capital Programs with the Health Sciences.
"Capital campaign funds are going into the two new,
seismic-replacement buildings," Jensen said, explaining that the
current research facilities were damaged beyond repair in the
earthquake and will be replaced by two new facilities.
Plans also include the seismic renovation of an already existing
educational facility, part of which will include the Bio-Medical
Library.
Monies may also be directed to needed areas at the Santa
Monica-UCLA Medical Center, Meyer said.
Now, three years into the campaign, more than $314 million of
the $600 million goal has been collected by sources in the medical
sciences.
In addition to the money being spent on construction, other
areas in the medical sciences identified as fundraising priorities
include research, endowed faculty chairs and scholarships.
Other areas of investment include $185 million for research
efforts and $25 million set aside for scholarships and medical
student fellowships, according to Betsabe Mazzolotti, assistant
director for administration with the Development Group.
"If you look at faculty support and endowed chairs and
allowances that would be included in the whole research package, a
good fourth is designated to a kind of research," Meyer said.
Funds gathered by Campaign UCLA are spent as they are collected,
Meyer added.
"It’s on a current need basis, because the buildings ought to be
done by 2003."
Officials expect to far surpass their goal of $600 million by
the year 2002, the year Campaign UCLA is slated to end.
"Each unit on campus has defined its needs. We are working very
hard at meeting the goals which have been both assigned and which
we identified for ourselves," said Gerald Levey, provost of the
School of Medicine.
"We have a broad list of needs … to successfully raise money
for. In fact, we have needs that transcend even those we have
identified," Levey said.
Priorities are probably still going to change, according to
Meyer.
"To be successful we are going to have to raise more than $600
million, and given the rate of success today we probably will," he
said.