Dear Friends,
As the signs of spring and improving weather brighten our days, I am pleased to share with you these compelling stories of donors making a tremendous impact in the lives of Oakland University students and faculty.
Our lead story in this issue of the newsletter highlights the generous donation of an office building by developers Gabe Anton and Stuart Frankel. Their gift helps to jump-start our vision for a satellite campus in downtown Mt. Clemens, Mich., and brings increased foot traffic and patronage to businesses in the downtown. Interior renovation and redesign of the building is underway thanks to a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We hope to fill the building with 250 students when it opens this fall.
We continue to look to new and exciting opportunities to involve alumni and friends in the life of Oakland University, and to travel to locations where large numbers of our alumni reside. This past February, Oakland hosted its first ever Winter College in Naples, Florida. Participants attended a weekend of thought-provoking classes with OU faculty, stimulating discussions, and an evening with President Gary Russi and Provost Virinder Moudgil. Feedback from attendees was very positive, and preparations for Winter College 2012 have already begun.
Oakland continues to build on a strategic vision for the future — one where our efforts in research and discovery, preparing future leaders, and community service and engagement help restore Michigan’s economic health and guide us toward becoming a national university of distinction. In moving toward that goal, OU is building and expanding, and is able to do so in large measure because of your generosity and gifts.
Two recent examples of our growth and expansion are: the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, which will welcome its inaugural class of 50 students this fall; and the new Human Health Building, opening in the fall of 2012, which together with the School of Medicine will help transform health education and research in the region.
Your gifts are critical as we seek to provide resources for a growing university. Thank you for your continued investment in our academic programs, students and faculty.
Sincerely,
Susan L. Davies, CFRE
Vice President for University Relations and
Executive Director, OU Foundation