GSB students set records of giving

Students in the Graduate School of Business set two records this year by raising $214,825 for the class gift to the school, and by raising an additional $42,000 that was donated to a local charity and a medical research foundation. Both amounts exceeded previous records.

Funds raised from the Class of 2002 gift will be used to help support the new GSB building, now under construction at 58th Street and Woodlawn Avenue. Ninety-four percent of this year’s second-year, full-time graduates contributed to the class gift, compared with the previous record of 67 percent set last year.

William Faulkner (M.B.A. ’02), chairman of the 20-person class gift committee, led the fund-raising effort.

“The efforts of this year’s class gift committee and the generosity of 525 members of our Class of 2002 are wonderful beyond words,” said Karen Gaillard, Associate Dean for Development in the GSB. Giving to the class gift is important, Gaillard said, because it often establishes a pattern of alumni giving.

In a separate initiative, $42,000 was raised from students in this year’s ninth annual GSB Giving Something Back Charity Auction. The funds were donated to the Hyde Park Chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters and IMPACT Children Foundation, founded by Sanjay Dhar, Professor of Marketing in the GSB. The organization is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children who suffer from thalassemia, a life-threatening, chronic hemoglobin disorder that affects nearly 100,000 children.

At the annual auction, students bid for prizes donated by GSB faculty members and corporations. One of the top auction items this year included a photo taken with University Nobel Laureates Robert Fogel, Gary Becker and Robert Lucas.