50th celebrations continue with College of Business celebration, alumni donations

Sept. 21, 2015

April Wefler
[email protected]

To celebrate UCCS’ 50 year milestone, the surrounding community is making donations to the university, one of which has the potential to reach $100,000.

Over 30 alumni have made monetary commitments to UCCS.

Melinda Hagemann, associate director of Development for University Advancement, said the campus has been receiving alumni donations every week.

Among those that have made donations is Becky Medved. Medved, along with her husband John, were the most recent recipients of the Lifetime Entrepreneurship Award.

Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers’ wife, Janet Suthers, is an alumna and the Suthers family has committed to the fund as well.

Additionally, an anonymous alum issued a challenge for business alumni and the community to raise $100,000, which the alum would match $50,000 of.

“There’s a lot of people that thankfully support the College (of Business),” said Samantha Wood, business director of alumni relations for the College of Business.

“The individual who made the challenge grant really felt like they benefited from their College of Business education and felt that without that education, they wouldn’t have gone as far as they did,” Hagemann said.

Hagemann said the donor wanted to help provide students with the same opportunity.

Also, the College of Business is hosting an anniversary celebration Oct. 2 from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Dwire Hall Atrium.

“We feel like 50 years is quite an accomplishment and we wanted to have an event to celebrate our achievements and students that come through the door and look to our future,” Wood said.

Guests will be encouraged to give to the new student scholarship endowment fund, which will be established if the College of Business raises $25,000.

Wood said the College of Business looks to keep in touch with its alumni through its mentorship program and networking with students.

“We believe that our alumni are a very important stakeholder and we believe that we can continue to build on that relationship even after they’ve graduated,” Wood said. “We don’t want them to graduate and then feel disconnected by the college.”

“We’re kind of young when it comes to our alumni relations (the office was established in 2007.) More people on campus are recognizing the value about investing in our alumni,” she said.