A wrap event will be held for students, donors and other campaign supporters on June 3^rd at York’s Glendon Campus to mark the occasion, featuring performances by Latin/Jazz artist Amanda Martinez (IMBA ’99) and Ron Westray, York’s Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance.

"I would like to thank all of our generous donors who supported the York to the Power of 50 campaign," says York University President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. "This highly successful fundraising effort will continue to support our presence as a leading Canadian university for interdisciplinary research and teaching."

The campaign’s success is attributed to the more than 30,000 donors who contributed to it. Over the course of the campaign, 44 gifts of $1 million or greater were received. Highlights of the campaign included:

• Infrastructure funding, including cumulative support from philanthropist Seymour Schulich that has reached over $28 million for the Schulich School of Business. Jay and Barbara Hennick gave $3 million to Schulich and Osgoode Hall Law School for a centre specializing in business and legal education and scholarship. In addition funding to renovate and expand Osgoode Hall Law School, with major gifts including $2.5 million from businessman and philanthropist Ignat Kaneff, and $500,000 from Osgoode alumnus Rudy Bratty.

• Over 640 new scholarships, awards and bursaries for accomplished students and those students in need of financial help were established through the leadership and generous support of Chancellor Emeritus Avie Bennett and many other generous supporters.

• Pioneering programs and research, such as the Sherman Health Sciences Research Centre, made possible by a $5 million gift from philanthropists Barry and Honey Sherman. Scheduled to open in September 2010, it will house York’s Centre for Vision Research and laboratory space for kinesiology and psychology researchers, as well as a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine.

• New Chairs and professorships, including the Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment, named for the first black female Member of Parliament, which will study issues affecting schooling in today’s urban environments to improve teaching methods and student outcomes. 

Campaign Co-Chairs Tim Price and Bill Hatanaka are impressed with the campaign’s success and believe it is the stepping stone to realizing York’s potential. “This campaign has energized the entire York community,” says Hatanaka. “As York continues to expand its groundbreaking programs and research, the momentum we’ve built will only grow, and the impact of the University and its graduates make will resonate even louder.”

“York to the Power of 50 has strengthened our relationships with the community,” adds Price. “York, and the entire region, can gaze back with pride and look forward with anticipation at what’s to come.”

While the main component of the campaign was major giving, the York University Foundation acquired pledges of $12 million in planned gifts such as bequest intentions in wills and garnered support from more than 2,400 York faculty, staff and retirees through the Family Campaign.

A group of 50 accomplished alumni also lent their support as part of the 50 to the Power of 50 Group. Chaired by Ivan Fecan, President & CEO, CTVglobemedia, and CEO of CTV Inc., members served as additional ambassadors to help raise the profile of the campaign.  The group included actress Rachel McAdams, and prominent defence attorney Clayton Ruby.

“The generosity of our donors, the wise counsel of our Co-Chairs and volunteer leadership, and the York community have ensured an outstanding future for York,” says York University Foundation President & CEO Paul Marcus. “We are deeply appreciative of, and humbled by, their overwhelming support.”

For more information about the completion of York to the Power of 50, please visit http://www.yorku.ca/foundation/.

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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Media contact:

Keith Marnoch, Media Relations, York University, (416) 455-4710, marnoch@yorku.ca