The University’s capital campaign is well underway.
Now comes the exciting part.
The Tsotsis Family Academic Center is the newest building on the Assumption University campus, yet it is already integral to campus life. Maybe that’s due to its classic brick and stone exterior or because of the way students and professors gather outside on the D’Amour Plaza to continue animated discussions they began in the building’s state-of-the-art classrooms.
This blend of classic and contemporary, of intellectual and social communities, feels exactly right to Brian Kelly ’83, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame.
“It’s important to provide today’s faculty and students with a comprehensive teaching and learning environment,” said Kelly. “To me, the Tsotsis Family Academic Center represents the tenets of a Catholic education, allowing Assumption to be what it is while doing so much more.”
Kelly donated generously to help build the Center – the atrium is named after him and his wife, Paqui. Now he serves as honorary chair of Light the Way 2020: The Capital Campaign for Assumption University. Kelly, along with Campaign co-chairs Carolyn Clancy ’82 and Michael Sullivan ’83, is spearheading this effort to prepare Assumption for many decades of educating students to make a difference in the world in which they live.
Announced in October 2017 by University President Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., the public phase of the Campaign is well underway, raising funds to put Assumption at the forefront in offering distinctive academic programs, sterling facilities, new technologies, funding for student financial aid and faculty research, athletic facilities, and more. “The priorities for the campaign allow us to advance our mission and continue to position Assumption University as an institution that properly prepares its students for a professionally and personally fulfilling life,” said President Cesareo.
Building a World-Class Institution
During the silent phase of the Light the Way Campaign, the University raised $17 million to construct the Tsotsis Family Academic Center. The next phase will continue positioning the University “as a world-class institution,” said Clancy, executive vice president at Fidelity Investments.
In addition to financing bricks-and-mortar projects, funds raised by the Campaign “will help us continue to enhance the quality of education by adding top-notch academic programs and extracurricular activities like athletics, music, and the arts,” she said.
As a former standout field hockey player for Assumption, Clancy can attest firsthand that these activities “are integral parts of the Assumption experience and a big part of a liberal arts education as a whole.”
Your Gift Can Change Lives
From inspiring professors to athletics, from research projects to band practice, university experiences have the power to transform young lives.
For instance, Paula Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., who chairs the Psychology Department, shared that support from alumni and friends of the University make it possible for her to mentor and support students conducting invaluable summer research. One of those students, Lindsay Gomes ’18, a double major in psychology and human services and rehabilitation studies, recently presented her research at the 2017 New England Psychological Association Conference.
Another, Andrew Lampi ’16, who is currently finishing his master’s degree in clinical counseling psychology at Assumption, presented his work at the 2016 International Meeting for Autism Research and has submitted a paper to a highly regarded journal. Both students have been accepted to prestigious doctoral programs in developmental psychology.
“These sorts of mentoring opportunities are an important way for students to engage in innovative research alongside a faculty mentor and make meaningful contributions to the scientific community and literature,” Prof. Fitzpatrick said. “This is a win-win, in that it supports faculty research, provides students with hands-on applications of research methodologies and analysis, and builds a strong foundation for students to pursue graduate study.”
The University maintains a commitment to increasing both access to and the affordability of higher education; during the last academic year, 98 percent of Assumption’s undergraduates received some form of financial assistance. One crucial initiative of the new Campaign is to strengthen Assumption’s endowment by $14 million, allowing the University to provide more funding for merit- and need-based financial aid, endowed faculty chairs, and other critical resources.
That goal is the largest in Assumption history, but one that Sullivan feels confident will be met. He encourages alumni to donate now, reminding them that even small amounts can change lives.
“By engaging our community to become more avid givers – even if it’s just a small amount every month – we can create a higher participation rate,” said Sullivan, president of Linchris Hotel Corporation. In turn, seeing that higher alumni participation rate lifts Assumption’s status with philanthropic organizations, he explained, “leading to additional outside funding for continued improvements that will benefit us all.”
Now Is the Time to Pay It Forward
As Clancy sees it, the Light the Way Capital Campaign represents an opportunity to show both gratitude and a sense of community. “We all received so much from our Assumption University education,” she said. “It’s important to pay it forward by giving back to the University that made us who we are today.”
