Kettering University wins CASE 2002 Circle of Excellence Award

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CASE, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, has awarded Kettering University with a 2002 CASE Circle of Excellence Award for overall fund raising improvement. CASE is a national organization that provides education professionals in alumni relations, communications and fund raising with tools to advance their institutions.

"The CASE Excellence Awards are considered the 'Academy Awards' of the educational fund raising profession," said Darryl Sczepanski, vice president of Kettering's University Advancement Division and a fund raising professional for almost 30 years. "The excellence awards go to a small number of very successful programs, usually those at older institutions with long traditions of fund raising, so we're very happy to win this year."

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An expert panel of judges selects winners in this prestigious awards category based on a number of factors, such as the pattern of growth in total support, an evaluation of what contributed to the total support figure and a pattern of donor growth among alumni and other individual donors. Kettering received this honor in part on data provided by the University to the Council for Aid to Education's annual Volunteer Support of Education survey. In addition, judges considered several factors in the identification of significant program growth across three years of data.

Kettering received a great deal of attention for record fund raising years in 2000 and 2001, and when the school closed its successful $100 million, seven-year capital campaign in December. This campaign raised significant gifts of money from alumni, friends of the University, foundations and corporations, and represents an achievement given the total enrollment at Kettering of approximately 2,500 students. In addition, other contributors donated resources of technology and equipment to help the school enhance and develop new research laboratories, which further support Kettering's brand of comprehensive education and cooperative experience. Some of the largest donors to the campaign included the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Nelson '66 and Sharon Sharp, Virginia Kettering and the Kettering Fund, and Robert Kagle '78.

"Now that we have received recognition for moving our program to another level," Sczepanski noted, "our challenge will be to win one of the overall excellence awards down the road."

Kettering won in the category of private professional or specialized schools. The CASE 2002 Circle of Excellence Awards were announced recently at the CASE International Assembly in Chicago. To learn more about the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, visit the CASE web site at www.case.org.

For more information about Kettering University's giving programs, contact the University Advancement Division at (800)955-4464, ext. 9863.

Written by Gary Erwin
(810) 762-9538
gerwin@kettering.edu