A Message from the Campaign Chair

COVID-19. It is hard to have any discussion or communication without starting there. COVID-19 has fundamentally disrupted the traditional relationship that our alumni, students, faculty, administration, and friends have had with this great institution we all care so deeply about, Penn State. How do we maintain our deep connections to this institution and express our support when we cannot visit campus, students and faculty cannot attend class in person, and athletics events take place in sterile environments without the joyous presence of fans, cheerleaders, the band, and the Nittany Lion mascot?

To your very great credit, you have demonstrated how to keep that connection and maintain the strength of Penn State. You have shown that “being a Penn Stater” means stepping up and giving back. Remarkably, you and more than 192,700 other donors have sustained the momentum of “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence” over this past trying year and moved us closer to our goal of raising a record $2.1 billion in new private support. Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, you have continued to invest in the vision of the campaign and ensured that our current students have returned to a university that is even better than before. You have encouraged us to set visionary goals for the future and supported Penn State in creating new programs and opportunities that will better serve our students and our communities for many years to come.

As we are in the last year of this campaign, we need to continue that momentum to hit the ambitious $2.1 billion goal. As volunteer chair and as a proud Penn Stater, I am asking you and all of our supporters, as I ask myself, to consider how we may further help to fulfill the vision of “A Greater Penn State.” I respectfully ask for you to consider making a new gift. Please also encourage your friends, families, and companies to join us. We look forward to achieving our goal and giving our community an accomplishment to celebrate when this campaign ends on June 30, 2022. I have every confidence that we will meet this challenge as we have met all the other challenges that have confronted us through these past two years and again show the world what it really means to be a Penn Stater. Thank you again for all that you do.

Rick Sokolov ’71, Volunteer Chair, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence”