Retiring BHP director Eli Cox gets a $26,000 haircut from student giving co-chair Renee Chu
This spring, students joined efforts to continue improvements to student life at McCombs through the 2010 Student Giving Campaigns. The three returning student campaigns—MBA Legacy, BBA Legacy and BHP Make-A-Mark—achieved milestones with new and innovative ideas, and three new student campaigns launched in 2010: EMBA Legacy, TEMBA Legacy and MPA Legacy, broadening the scope of student philanthropy at McCombs and setting the stage for future achievements for these programs.
With high participation rates, students raised the bar for future student campaigns and for McCombs alumni, whose annual giving participation rate is only at 6 percent.
MBA Legacy Campaign
Since 1996, full-time MBA second-year students have combined their contributions into a class gift to the school. Class members submit ideas and then vote on the cause of their choice. Led by three cochairs, Shannon Emerson, Tate Forrester and Hanley Sayers, the 2010 MBA Legacy Campaign achieved a 99 percent participation rate and raised more than $153,000, the second-highest pledge total in the campaign’s history.
This campaign will help fund the newly launched McCombs Social Enterprise Fund to support first-year MBA students working in sustainability, non-profits and other social enterprises during their summer internships. This fund will help the school attract high-caliber students because the majority of top 20 schools offer similar support to students.
BBA Legacy Campaign
In its second year, the BBA Legacy Campaign continues to exceed expectations by involving students across undergraduate classes, not just graduating seniors. Led by co-chairs Reilly Milton, BBA ’10, Vic Ramon, BBA ’11, Jeff Stein, BBA ’11, Frances Smith, BBA ’12, and Emily Lu, BBA ’13, this year’s campaign raised $6,200 in pledges and garnered 13 percent participation among all classes, tripling last year’s rate.
The BBA Legacy Campaign Committee launched a cutting-edge marketing campaign, generating buzz on campus with their slogan “What’s the New Tradition?” (Watch the campaign video, with a special appearance from Dean Tom Gilligan.) Contributions went to the BBA Alumni Endowed Excellence Fund, which supports undergraduate student programs created and led by students.
BHP Make-A-Mark
The Business Honors Program (BHP) Make-A-Mark Campaign, led by Renee Chu, BBA ’10, and Adriane McAda, BBA ’10, raised $8,875 in student, faculty and staff pledges with a 70 percent student participation rate, a significant jump from last year’s 44 percent rate. Created in 2000, the campaign goes toward a scholarship fund for future BHP students.
To drive involvement, Beverly and Will O’Hara, BBA ’68 and part-time lecturer in accounting, offered to match student contributions two to one if the graduates reached 100 percent participation and if Eli Cox,
chair of the Marketing Department and retiring director of BHP, shaved his head and beard.
In light of the students’ recordbreaking participation, the O’Haras doubled all campaign contributions, donating an additional $17,350 to the scholarship fund, bringing the total to $26,225. During the BHP Make-a-Mark celebration, Chu and her BHP classmates enthusiastically joined in helping Dr. Cox shave his head.
“I owe so much of my enriching experience here at UT to my time in BHP,” Chu says. “Because the program has afforded me so many opportunities, I feel now it is more appropriate than ever to give back.”
