By Sarah Carlson, Copy Editor

Contributions from faculty and staff members to the Centennial Campaign were due Friday, with Campaign officials expecting a good response.

Brent Magner, director of development, said Friday was the first deadline for the Faculty-Staff Campaign, but faculty and staff members will have an opportunity to contribute in the spring as well.

“We’re asking everyone to consider a special gift to the Centennial Campaign,” Magner said.

Faculty and staff members have been asked to financially contribute to the university annually, with the donations typically being due in the spring. However, because the Centennial Campaign was launched this spring, Magner said faculty and staff members were asked to consider the special Centennial Campaign contribution during the summer before deciding to participate.

The university’s previous fund-raising campaign, “To Lead and to Serve,” raised $114 million, with an excess of $2 million coming from faculty and staff members, Magner said.

“There are several members of our faculty and staff that will give some pretty sacrificial amounts,” he said.

The goal for the Centennial Campaign, “Called to Faith and Excellence,” is $150 million to be raised by December 2006. No monetary goal is set for the Faculty-Staff Campaign, and an exact amount pledged will not be known until the end of the fiscal year in May.

Magner said he usually receives a very good response from faculty and staff for campaigns, and in previous campaigns at least 70 to 82 percent of those employed on campus contributed. Whether the fall deadline for contributions will effect contributions remains to be seen.

He said it is important for faculty and staff to contribute to campaigns as an example for alumni and those outside of the university.

“We like to be able to tell them that the folks who are the insiders, the folks who know us best, are contributing and are behind this,” he said.

Kitty Wasemiller, associate professor of family and consumer sciences and spokesperson for the Faculty-Staff Campaign, said she wrote a personal plea to faculty and staff members encouraging them to donate, but she said the campaign has been rather low-key in order to let them make their own decisions without feeling pressure to contribute.

“I’m serving as an encourager to my colleagues to give back to the school and to celebrate the Centennial,” Wasemiller said.

She said faculty and staff members have the opportunity to specify an area on campus or in the campaign they would like to contribute to, such as a certain department or program, or they can simply donate to the campaign in general and have their money disbursed however.

She said she has heard from several people about the donations and said it is important for people to give back to the university in ways other than their time and energy.

“We’re certainly asked to be stewards of our resources,” Wasemiller said.