IMPACT
Creating Transformational Experiences Through Philanthropy
Winter2015
In this Issue:
Business.gmu.edu/Contribute
Faster Farther: Revealing the School of Business priorities for the Mason campaign By the Numbers: Where does Mason stand against other VA schools and how do our students fare? Rebuilding: An EagleBank scholarship helps a student work toward her dream of rebuilding her native Syria
impact
Message from the Dean As the university launches the final phase of its capital campaign, the School of Business was asked to determine our top priorities. That’s easy—attracting bright students to our programs, enabling them to afford to take time off from their jobs for professional internships, providing competitive salaries for our faculty, and bolstering our career services programming to connect employers with our students. The question I have for you is, will you help us? Your support of any of these initiatives will help us become the school we need to be…for our students, for our business community, and for the region. Merit-Based Scholarships – Many high-performing high school students and prospective graduate students apply to Mason but choose to attend other universities. Enticing the brightest students to come to Mason with merit-based scholarships elevates the classroom experience for everyone.
Need-Based Scholarships – Many of our business students are working more than 20 hours a week to make ends meet. Imagine if we could replace every bartending job with an internship. Faculty Support – Each year we lose terrific faculty to other universities. Funding to retain our all-star faculty and to recruit top faculty from other universities raises the quality of education we deliver in the classroom and the quality of research that bolsters the business community. Career Services – The School of Business student to career counselor ratio is 1300 to 1. More career counselors means a personalized career coaching experience for each student, more professional development programming, and more career-ready graduates. This campaign matters. Although we are a public university, we can no longer count on the Commonwealth of Virginia for adequate funding. We are asked to do more with less. At a certain point, we can only do less with less. On behalf of our students, will you help us?
Sarah E. Nutter Dean
funding Priorities
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2
Career Services provides personalized career coaching experiences and professional development programming to ensure we educate career-ready graduates for prospective employers. Need-Based Scholarships allow our students to spend more time on their studies and completing a professional internship than working part- or full-time jobs to pay for their education. Merit-Based Scholarships enable us to attract the brightest prospective undergraduate and graduate students to Mason, elevating the classroom experience for all students. Faculty Fellowships, Professorships, & Chairs enable us to retain all-star faculty and to attract top faculty from other universities that raises the quality of education we deliver and the quality of research for our community. Centers of Expertise establish credibility and strengthen our capacity to dramatically expand research output and cocurricular programming.
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSiTY | SCHOOL OF Business
Winter2015
Gifts in Action On the heels of a major partnership with EagleBank, George Mason University has already been experiencing exciting changes that benefit both institutions and the community we serve. While one of the most notable changes thus far is the historic name change of the former Patriot Center to EagleBank Arena, the relationship goes far beyond a name change. The contributions from this partnership support Mason’s School of Business in many ways including student scholarships. May Abou Ghazaleh is one such student scholarship recipient. A Syrian native, she is pursuing a Master’s in Real Estate Development and is described by her program director as “an incredible story who epitomizes George Mason’s value of strength through diversity and, in May’s case, also strength through adversity.” Abou Ghazaleh was educated in her hometown of Damascus as an architect with a focus on urban planning; she later earned an MBA as part of an exchange program with a university in Barcelona, Spain. Over the course of 15 years, she excelled in her career, but the Syrian crisis of 2011 forced her to face personal and cultural challenges that would change her life. After violent conditions plagued the country and threatened their safety, Abou Ghazaleh fled Syria with her children. Despite this, she is looking to the future and has embraced a responsibility to help rebuild Syria because, in her own words, there will be an “urgent need to rebuild and rehabilitate sites and cities” after all the destruction that has occurred. When she finishes her degree and it is safe to return to Damascus, Abou Ghazaleh plans to help define policies and develop planning strategies as a way of contributing to the rebuilding process in Syria.
Through EagleBank’s generosity and Mason’s training, Abu Ghazaleh will make a difference. Learn more about May Abou Ghazaleh and the other EagleBank student scholarship recipients at business.gmu.edu/eaglebank.
Scholarships Have impact Student scholarships help turn dreams into realities. They enable students to spend more time on their studies than part-time jobs, and in the case of May Abou Ghazaleh, student scholarships can help rebuild nations. Contribute to student scholarships at business.gmu.edu/give-scholarship.
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How to Make an Impact
1.6% of Students
Scholarships
business.gmu.edu/give-scholarship Scholarships make an enormous difference for our students—more than half of whom are working 20+ hours a week to pay their bills. Unfortunately, out of the 4,020 students at the School of Business, we only have 65 funded scholarships (1.6% of students). We have a student who travels two hours round trip by bus to his job each day and also takes a full class load. Another student was preparing her paperwork to drop out of Mason because her father lost his job when she found out about her scholarship. The average scholarship is only $2,000, but sometimes that makes all the difference. Scholarships meet critical needs, bring financial relief, and provide a sense of affirmation that a student can be successful. Your gift to the School of Business Scholarship Fund will change lives. “Without my scholarship to Mason, I’m not sure if I would have been able to complete my education. I personally know the value of scholarships and the value of a George Mason University education, which is why I continue to support student scholarships.” - John T. Niehoff, Partner, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP
FAculty Support business.gmu.edu/give-faculty
Do you remember the first time you sat in a class when you were really excited about what you were learning? Maybe it was the first time the topic seemed relevant to your future, or the first time you connected with how the information was taught. More than likely, though, you remember this experience because of the faculty member. He or she seemed to have designed the class with you in mind. The topic came alive and you began to think about how you would use what you were learning at a job. Faculty make all the difference. Mason is unusual in that while we are a research university, our faculty are devoted to providing the classroom experience students deserve. All around campus, you can witness faculty members and students having animated and in-depth discussions. By providing additional financial resources for our faculty, your gift will enable them to incorporate more experiential learning opportunities for students. It also adds prestige to their work and gives us the resources to retain our top faculty.
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GEORGE MASON UNIVERSiTY | SCHOOL OF Business
1300 to 1
Winter2015
How to Make an Impact Career Services business.gmu.edu/give-career
Connecting employers with our students is an important culminating experience for any institution of higher education. This is especially true at Mason where 1 in 3 students are first generation college students. It’s one thing to look for a job when you can rely on your connections or networking experiences and it’s another entirely when those connections don’t exist. That’s where career counselors come in. They know both the students and the employers. They know who will be at job fairs and when on-campus interviews are scheduled. Career counselors conduct mock interviews to prepare students and help polish resumes. Due to a lack of resources, though, the School of Business student to career counselor ratio is 1300 to 1. More career counselors means a personalized career advising experience, expanded professional development programming, and more career-ready graduates. Preparing career-ready graduates means helping them navigate a complex, ever changing, and highly demanding job market in the Washington, D.C., metro region. Your support will connect our students to their successful futures.
Dean’s ExcellencE Fund business.gmu.edu/give-dean
The Dean’s Excellence Fund is one of the few unrestricted funds at the School of Business. It is used in a variety of ways and impacts every aspect of the school’s mission. In 2003, the state funded 66% of our budget; today, the state funding has dropped to just 22% of our budget. The Dean’s Excellence Fund is an important resource as funding from the state decreases and unexpected opportunities or challenges arise. These flexible funds may be used to send a student group to a conference, award a small prize for an outstanding project, or offer a stipend when an unexpected hardship is uncovered. The funds can help offset faculty research assistance or travel to present research papers. Unrestricted funds enable us to capitalize on opportunities, make mid-term adjustments, and fill in where resources are needed. Your support provides this flexibility and helps us to promote innovation, scholarship, achievement and stewardship—all of the hallmarks of a first-rate business school.
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GEORGE MASON UNIVERSiTY | SCHOOL OF Business
Winter2015
Campaign Leaders Donors to the School of Business between July 1, 2008 - November 3, 2015
Patriots Argidius Foundation Brown and Brown Insurance Buchanan Partners, LLC Stephen Cumbie and Druscilla French
$100,000+
Kaylene* and Robert* Green NAIOP Northern Virginia Opus Foundation Peterson Companies
Patricia* and John* Roberts Tishman Speyer Properties, LP Estate of Hale and Sally Tongren
Champions Anne Altman* George* and Sarah Cabalu Cassidy Turley Washington, LLC The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia Cox Communications, Inc. Deloitte LLP
$50,000 - $99,999 DHG Dominion Resources Inc. EagleBank ExxonMobil Foundation Grant Thornton Foundation Jeff* and Peggi Johnson Kearney & Company, P.C.
KPMG RyanSharkey LLP Scott Plein Volkswagen of America, Inc. Vornado/Charles E. Smith Dale* and Sharon Wince Bob and Deby Wulff
Supporters Annandale Millwork/Allied Systems Corp Anonymous Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP Stephen* and Barbara Bouchard Lynn Alexis Lee Corey Susan* and Bentley Gregg Jerry and Jackie Grossman Craig and Kim* Havenner
$25,000- $49,999 IBM Corporation Marilyn Jackson* Charles McGrath* Sally and Alan Merten MRP Realty John* and Lori Niehoff Northern Chapter VSCPA N.V.P. Inc.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP Harold* and Linda* Rauner David* and Pamela Roe William* and Sharon Seippel Spencer Stouffer* Wal-Mart Foundation Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Friends Acumen Solutions, Inc. Steven and Majorie Alloy Cheryl Amyx* Randolph and Connie Atkins BDO USA, LLP
$20,000 - $24,999 Brandywine Realty Trust Ernst & Young Foundation Fannie Mae NAIOP DC|MD Reed Smith
Trammell Crow Company Van Metre Companies Weber Rector
*George Mason University Alumnus/Alumna
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Fairfax, VA Permit 1532
4400 University Drive, MS 1B1 Fairfax, VA 22030
You may think you need great wealth to make a significant gift to Mason, but every gift—whether it’s $5 or $5 million—helps us move faster, farther. There are only 65 scholarships given at the School of Business for our more than 4,000 students. Would you like to change a life by contributing to a scholarship?
Name a scholarship, a classroom, a center—and leave a lasting legacy. Ever want to see your name in lights?
Each year we lose outstanding faculty to other universities. Can you help us keep our allstar faculty by supporting a professorship?
Planned giving is an easy and thoughtful way to set aside money in the future and get the tax benefit today. Would you like to know more?
Make an impact today or create a legacy for the future! Contact Eleanor Weis at eweis2@gmu.edu or 703-993-2412 Business.gmu.edu/contribute