9.16.22

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff —

Last night, UIS celebrated the completion of our multi-year fundraising campaign, Reaching Stellar, with an amazing gala at the Student Union. You may have noticed the fireworks displayed to cap off the evening’s festivities or the extra activity in and around the Union throughout the day!

Reaching Stellar was the most significant fundraising campaign in our history and raised an astounding $42.48 million. This was more than 106% of our $40-million goal. The campaign launched publicly in 2017 and ended June 30 of this year.

The campaign had five priority areas – Scholarships, Academic Excellence, the UIS Center for Lincoln Studies, “The Public Good” and Facilities & Technology. Of note, more than $8 million has been committed to more than 70 new scholarship funds that have already assisted close to 300 additional studentsto date!

So many wonderful things have been made possible because of this campaign, and UIS will continue to benefit for years to come. My predecessors, Chancellor Emerita Susan Koch and former interim Chancellor Karen Whitney, as well as Vice Chancellor for Advancement Jeff Lorber and his team, worked tirelessly to ensure this campaign would be successful, and it was an honor to join them last night to celebrate and thank our tremendous donors, alumni and friends for helping us reach this remarkable milestone.

The Reaching Stellar campaign is yet another reason to be so proud to be a Prairie Star! Congrats to all, and thank you!

Janet

Janet L. Gooch, PhD

Chancellor

University of Illinois Springfield