4F - New Student Edition - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 8, 1999 Give back to the University community. Write for the Daily. Mass Meetings .. Second floor, Student Publications Building, 420 Maynard St. (next to the admissions office). 0 Rare gift gets giver a rarer honor By Michael Grass Daily Staff Reporter University President Lee Bollinger announced in June that businessman and philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman will donate $30 million to the University's College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the largest financial gift of its kind ever given to any school of architecture. Later during the University Board of Regents' monthly meeting, the eight-member board unani- mously approved an administrative recommenda- tion to rename the College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Taubman's honor. Bollinger said it is rare for the University to bestow such an honor. "It is a very serious matter to name something at the University, whether it be a professorship; room, building or school," he said. "Naming a school is the most significant of all of those." Regent Andrea Fischer Newman (R-Ann Arbor) noted that it has been a "long time" since the University has honored a donor by naming a school or college after one. The regents' approval of the renaming will make the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning the second University school named in honor of an individual. The regents established the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies in 1935. The trustees of the Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund of Detroit had just given the University $6.5 million to construct a building for graduate stud- ies and establish an endowment to support research and other scholarly activities. Pr cr to this donation, Taubman contributed gifts in the 1980s toward the construction of the A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center and the Taubman Medical Library. "This is by no means his first gift, but it is his largest," Bollinger said. "This gift is immensely significant." Susan Feagin, University Vice President for Development, said gifts of such a large magnitude are a "rare occurrence." University Provost Nancy Cantor said Taubman's contribution will allow the College of Architecture and Urban Planning to grow in many areas, since the gift came without significant restrictions on what the funds can be used for. Administrators said Taubman wanted his contribu- tion to support the academic growth of the College, along with its faculty and students. "This is an extraordinary gift and we have no doubt it will leave a big mark on the University," Cantor said. Douglas Kelbaugh, dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, said the $30 million could be used not only on expansion, but DANA UNNANE/Daly The Inscription, 'One person can make a difference,' on this sculpture outside the Art and Architecture Building could apply now to A. Alfred Taubman, whose $30 million gift will have lasting effects on the University. BELIEVE T OR NOT, TH GUY If you're looking for excitement and adventure you'll find it when you enroll in Army ROTC. It's not your ordinary college elective. ARMY ROTC THE SMARTEST COLLEGE COURSE YOU CANTAKE For details, visit 131, North Hall or call 764-2400 faculty recruitment. "It will be easier to attract scholars to Ann Arbor, rather than practitioners," Kelbaugh said. "We will be able to build a better student-faculty ratio." Kelbaugh said the College will now be able to attract first-rate faculty members and the best graduate students from around the world. "This will allow us to give full academic stipends ... to 30 or 40 students," he said. "These are not small potatoes." With multiple spending options open to the University, Kelbaugh said determining specifical- ly where the money will go will be a big task. "We are thrilled by the size of the gift, but are sobered by what we have to do with it," he said. Taubman is founder and chair of The Taubman Company, Inc., a Bloomfield Hills-based corpora- tion operating some of the nation's premiere shop- ping facilities, like the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, Cherry Creek in Denver and the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix. Taubman also manages Metro Detroit shopping centers, including Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi and Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights, in addition to Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor and Woodland Mall in suburban Grand Rapids.Ga In a written statement, Taubman (who was out of the country at the time his gift was announced) said his gift reflected his commitment to the University and interest in architecture. "This gift represents both my deep respect for the University of Michigan and my commitment to the study of architecture and urban planning," he said in the statement. "It is an honor and pleasure for me to be able to provide this support to the College." Taubman is among many distinguished* University architecture and urban planning stu- dents, including Indian architect Charles Correa, and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. Although Taubman did not graduate from the University, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1991. Since the first course in architecture was offered at the University in 1876, the size and scope of the University's architecture program has changed,* obtaining departmental status in 1913, and offer- ing one of the nation's first graduate programs in urban planning in the 1940s and a doctor of archi- tecture degree in 1969. inn i r ' $9.3M gift provides graduate fellowships By Nika Schulte Daily Staff Reporter The $9.3 million dollar pledge from the Ford Motor Company Fund announced in May by the University and Ford Motor Company created long- awaited graduate fellowships for women in Business, Engineering and Natural Resources. Unlike previous donations from the company which focused primarily on the College of Engineering, the recent pledge - one of the largest corporate gifts in school history - will benefit a wide range of schools and programs including the School of Natural Resources and the Center for the Education of Women. University Senior Director of Corporation and Foundation Relationships Jay Hartford said the col- laboration between the University and Ford in drafting the pledge benefited the University's desires greatly. "Some universities end up with a corporate written agreement," Hartford said. "This is really a broad-based part- nership. Gary Nielsen, vice-president and executive for the Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic division of the motor giant, said the pledge, which haS" been in development for over 2A months, will foster better working rela- tionships between the company and the University. "In prior relations, (team members) showed up with a large check," Nielsen said, adding that Ford has a contact with University faculty in each of the depart- ments receiving funds. Carol Hollenshead, director for the CEW said although the center has received funding from Ford in the past, the recent pledge was substantial enough to create the fellowships. "We have for many years had schol- arship and fellowship programs, but never had a program of this kind," Hollenshead said. THE PIERPONT- COMMONS 0 ri[T 1 . G'1:1 '. :1 ..ALi I a 1} + 1 111 1 M11kfJi111~IiU1E1'3 I* .u'IV lI fil inm"wIui G i fil 11A jIIIIu U . mp 35 U ...... ..... .. .