October 2011

Lawrence University officials kicked off a weekend-long celebration Friday evening by announcing the college’s most ambitious capital campaign had surpassed its goal by more than $10 million.

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President Jill Beck delivered the record-setting total of the $150 million “More Light!” campaign to an audience of alumni and friends of the college during a program highlighting many of the campaign’s accomplishments.

The “More Light!” campaign began in 2005 with a “quiet phase” and was publicly launched in October 2008 with a goal of $150 million.  Its $160 million total more than doubled Lawrence’s last major capital campaign, which ended in 1997 and raised $66.3 million, surpassing its goal of $60 million.

The campaign finished in a flurry, generating more than $3 million in gifts in the last week to push it over the $160 million mark.

“There can be no question that the unwavering generosity and determination of our alumni, friends and supporters, represented in gifts totaling more than $160 million and given during the most difficult economic period since the Great Depression, have transformed this institution,” said Beck. “The ‘More Light!’ campaign will have an enduring legacy that will positively impact the educations of countless Lawrentians far beyond our lifetimes.”

More than $25 million of the campaign’s total was designated for endowed student scholarships, which is expected to generate an additional $1.25 million annually for scholarship support. More than 90 percent of Lawrence students receive some form of financial aid, with aid packages averaging $29,500.

“As an institution, we have always held firm to the belief that students of all backgrounds and financial means should have the opportunity to benefit from a Lawrence educational experience,” said Beck. “The ‘More Light!’ campaign enables us to continue to recruit the brightest, most innovative students regardless of their need.”

The campaign was launched with four major goals: grow the endowment, complete new capital projects debt-free, further enhance the academic experience for all students and bolster the Lawrence Fund for annual operating expenses.  More Light! Campaign Co-Chair Bill Hochkammer ’66 told alumni and friends gathered for the finale that the campus is transformed. (Click on the arrow)

And Hochkammer’s fellow Campaign Co-Chair Harry Jansen Kraemer ’77 reminded people that More Light! is not about the dollars … (Click on the arrow)

While the most noticeable success of the campaign may be the physical changes to the campus — the $35 million, 107,000-square-foot Richard and Margot Warch Campus Center, the largest building project in the school’s history, being the grandest change — the less visible but vital campaign accomplishments enable the university to continue to attract exceptional students from a broad socio-economic spectrum and expand the college’s emphasis on individualized learning experiences.

“The success of the ‘More Light!’ campaign ripples well beyond the campus borders, providing an economic boost for the broader Fox Valley community,” said Bob Buchanan, long-time member of Lawrence’s Board of Trustees and former CEO of Fox Valley Corporation.  “The new construction and extensive renovations that took place during the campaign provided work for local contractors and supported area suppliers. Funds were funneled into these projects from all corners of the country and reinvested right here in our community, benefiting Lawrence as well as the greater Fox Valley.”

Beyond the Warch Campus Center, the campus added Hurvis Crossing, a land bridge over Lawe St., expanded the Björklunden Lodge on Lawrence’s “northern campus” in Door Country to more than double its original size, created the Riverwalk nature trail along the Fox River, renovated the Lawrence Memorial Chapel and made improvements to residence halls.

Gifts to the endowment bolstered the university’s ability to provide necessary student scholarships, created four new named professorships in the sciences and conservatory of music, increased the total number of faculty and the competitiveness of their salaries.

New initiatives designed to enhance the fabric of the Lawrence community and broaden learning opportunities such as the Lawrence Fellows Program and Posse Scholars, were supported by gifts to the endowment and the Lawrence Fund.

Awards from private family foundations have enabled Lawrence to strengthen its curriculum through Senior Experience, a student capstone experience, dance studies and an expanded interdisciplinary approach to film studies.

“This campaign has moved Lawrence forward in both tangible and intangible ways,” said Beck. “Our alumni, relating the significance of their learning experiences to their own satisfaction and success, have been willing and eager to ‘pay it forward.’  Equally important, our alumni have been very generous with their time. They have responded enthusiastically and productively to requests to share their ideas, wisdom and networks of connections with new generations of Lawrence students.”

See other “More Light!” campaign highlights here.

A unique, immersive musical experience by the eclectic Deep Listening Band — known for its performances in resonant spaces including caves and large, underground cisterns — opens a new Lawrence University series dedicated to the depth and variety of new music being created by the world’s leading ensembles as well as Lawrence’s own faculty and students.

Deep Listening Band co-founders Pauline Oliveros and trombonist/didjeriduist Stuart Dempster, along with Lawrence conservatory of music faculty members, will create an ocean of sound Saturday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. by electronically creating 20 seconds or more of reverberation in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The opening concert in Lawrence’s New Music Series is free and open to the public.

“Lawrence has always been incredibly supportive of new music,” said Brian Pertl, dean of the Lawrence conservatory of music. “Every year dozens of events focus on the music of living composers. We felt it was high time to shine a spotlight on these exhilarating performances by creating a series that highlights the music of ‘now.’ I see it as a wonderful addition to our popular Artist Series, Jazz Series and World Music Series.”

Oliveros, an accordionist and one of the 20th century’s most important composers, has been a pioneer in the development of electronic art music and the concept of “deep listening,” which she describes as “a practice intended for experiencing heightened and expanded awareness of the sound/silence continuum.”

Dempster, who conducted a visiting artist residency last October at Lawrence, has been a member of Deep Listening Band since its inception in 1988. Known as a “sound gatherer” for the wide assortment of instruments he plays, Dempster is among the country’s leading figures in the development of trombone technique and performance.

The three-member Deep Listening Band recently lost its long-time keyboardist David Gamper, who died unexpectedly last month at his home in Vermont. He had played with the band since 1990.

“I am thrilled to have a group of such musical significance visit our campus,” said Pertl. “Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster are integral to the history of 20th-century music in America. They also are two of the most open, accessible and generous virtuosi that you will ever have the pleasure to hear or meet. This is a rare opportunity to hear and experience music-making at its highest level.”

Performing with Oliveros and Dempster in concert will be Pertl, didjeridu, Matt Turner, cellist and dancer Rebecca Salzer from the conservatory of music, guest dancer Jeff Wallace, Lawrence’s student improvisation group IGLU and the Didjeridu Collective.

The Deep Listening Band’s performance will be one of three concerts featured in the inaugural season of the New Music Series.

The second performance in the series — “Simultaneous Worlds” on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 – will feature flutist Erin Lesser and pianist Michael Mizrahi of the Lawrence conservatory of music, along with percussionist Greg Beyer, a 1995 Lawrence graduate, music professor at Northern Illinois University and founding member of the flute/percussion duo DUE EAST. Highlighting the concert will be a performance of “Littoral,” a multi-media work by composer John Supko that features 5.1 surround-sound audio, original video artwork by Kristine Marx and poetry by Cees Nooteboom.

The series concludes Saturday, April 21 with a performance by the University of Iowa Center for New Music, featuring late 20th- and 21st-century works. Under the direction of faculty composer David Gompper, the 26-member all-student ensemble energetically champions new music. Now in its 46th year, the ensemble provides programming to diverse audiences reflective of the range of current compositional styles as well as what is considered classic repertoire from the 20th century.

Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.

The correct spelling of “fasciation” earned Lawrence University its second straight title in the Fox Valley Literacy Council’s annual Spelling Bee Thursday evening (10/20) at the Holiday Inn.

Spurred on by a vocal group of supporters, “Team Lawrence” — Provost David Burrows, Professor of Geology Marcia Bjornerud, Director of Corporate, Foundation and Sponsored Research Support Jenna Stone ’00 and student Elise Mozena ’12 — outlasted eight other area teams to win the Spelling Bee champion’s crown for the second year in a row.

Congratulations on a job well done.