FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas Campaign for the Twenty First Century Steering Committee has recommended unanimously that the Campaign goal be raised to $900 million, making the Campaign the largest fund-raising effort among the 12 institutions in the Southeastern Conference.

The decision was made at the Steering Committee’s bi-annual meeting, held earlier today.

Presiding Co-chair Tommy Boyer said, "Since the recent announcement of the $300 million commitment from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation to establish and endow an undergraduate Honors College and endow the graduate school, Campaign leaders and volunteers have been discussing how this impacts our work on behalf of the University of Arkansas."

The $300 million gift — the largest ever made to U.S. public higher education — was announced at a public event on April 11, 2002.

"The condition for receiving the $300 million gift is that the University commit to raising an additional $300 million for academic and academic support programs between Jan. 1, 2002, and the end of the Campaign," Boyer continued. "We talked about the challenge set forth by the Foundation and how we will intensify our efforts to meet it. We even discussed a goal of $1 billion. We set our sights on big goals and know there is nothing that alumni, friends, corporations and foundations cannot achieve when they put their resources together in support of the University. Eventually, we came back around and agreed that $900 million was realistic and achievable. As a result, the Campaign Steering Committee voted unanimously to increase the goal and extend the Campaign for another year. The Campaign will now conclude on June 30, 2005."

G. David Gearhart, vice chancellor for University Advancement said, "We are confident that we can raise an additional $300 million for what we’ll call the $300 Million Challenge between Jan. 1, 2002, and June 30, 2005."

Between Jan. 1, 2002 and April 12, 2002, the University of Arkansas had raised $14,456,135 toward the $300 Million Challenge.

Boyer’s term as presiding co-chair ends June 30, 2002. The other Campaign co-chairs are Rob Walton, chairman of the board of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. who served from July 1, 1998, until June 30, 1999; Jim Walton, chairman and CEO of Arvest Bank Group, Bentonville, Ark., who will preside from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003; and Frank Broyles, University of Arkansas men’s athletics director, who will preside from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004. Johnelle Hunt, corporate secretary of J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., of Lowell, Ark., is Campaign treasurer.

Started in 1998, the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century was a six-year effort to raise $500 million in private gift support by June 30, 2004. As of April 12, 2002, the Campaign had raised $610.7 million in gifts and pledges — 121 percent over the original goal.

Information about the Campaign Steering Committee and the other Campaign Volunteers — including a roster of volunteers — may also be found on the University of Arkansas Web site http://pigtrail.uark.edu/depts/advancement/campaign.html. To read more about the historic $300 million gift, log onto http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news/2002/APR02/gift/300mil.html.

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