UNC Asheville on Track to Raise $8 Million in First 
Comprehensive Campaign

UNC Asheville has set its sights on an $8 million target for its first comprehensive campaign, with $5.1 million already raised toward the goal, campaign co-chairs Pamela Mills Turner and Robert Peterson announced April 12 at a kickoff event at the Grove Park Inn. Some 300 people attended the black-tie festivities, which propelled "Campaign UNC Asheville: Moving to First in Our Class" into its public phase.

The campaign targets several critical areas that are underfunded:

* $3 million for student scholarships, especially endowed scholarships;

* $2 million for faculty excellence initiatives, including named professorships and endowments to support faculty in enrichment opportunities, intellectual development and cutting-edge work with students;

* $500,000 to accelerate intergenerational and multicultural initiatives;

* $500,000 to support the Adelaide Worth Daniels Key Center for Service Learning and new community partnerships;

* $2 million for campus technology, including multimedia classrooms, upgraded computer labs, expanded distance learning and fiber optic networking.

UNCA Chancellor James Mullen, joined by UNCA faculty, staff and students, highlighted the university's needs, achievements and goals. "Tonight, each of us should be energized by the future that we together can build -- a future that will continue this university's commitment to academic excellence and will, at the same time, create an intergenerational community of learning that will be the standard against which all universities are measured," Chancellor Mullen told the gathering.

For more information about the campaign, call Alex Comfort, UNCA Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development, at 828/251-6080.

Media Contacts:

• Alex Comfort, UNCA Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development, 828/251-6080
• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information Director, 828/251-6526