Terps' Williams To Head University Scholarship Fund-Raising Effort
9/20/2004 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 20, 2004
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - University of Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams will co-chair the scholarship component of the school's upcoming fund-raising campaign and has pledged a half million dollars of his own for academic scholarships at the university, President Dan Mote has announced.
Mote made the announcement at a dinner that raised $1.5 million dollars for scholarships Saturday night. Over the past year, the university has received more than $24.8 million in gifts for scholarships.
"Raising student scholarships is a top priority for the University for the foreseeable future," Mote said. "We are very lucky indeed that Coach Williams volunteered to co-chair the campaign to keep a Maryland education affordable. He brings an extraordinary determination to winning this challenge as he always does in everything he undertakes. Gary is a leader and a motivator, and a winner."
"The burden of financing public higher education is falling more and more on students and universities themselves," Mote said. "This campaign for scholarships is a major effort to carry part of that load. We could not be happier about Gary Williams stepping up with a personal financial contribution and his leadership of our campaign to raise at least $200 million. This is a great day for Maryland scholarships."
"The University of Maryland paid for my education with a basketball scholarship when I was a student-athlete," said Williams. "This is my way of saying thank you to the University and to assist the University's effort to raise money for scholarships. A successful fund raising program for scholarships will allow more students from all economic levels to attend the University of Maryland."
Mote said the larger fund-raising campaign, which is still in the planning stages, will be launched publicly in 2006 and that it will include a goal of more than $200 million just to endow academic scholarships. Other details of the campaign, including the total fund-raising goal, have not yet been finalized.
University of Maryland College Park Foundation Chairman John Brophy said, "The University of Maryland has made great progress in recent years to become one of the finest universities in the nation, but at the same time, the cost of attending Maryland or any other great institution has grown enormously.
"We must ensure that financial problems never interfere with a student's ability to study and succeed at Maryland," said Brophy, group president of ACS in Washington, D.C. "We are fully confident that the man who brought Maryland its first national basketball championship can lead us to this vital goal as well."
