A month ago, Brown held a Commencement and Reunion Weekend unlike any other. In addition to honoring the graduates of 2022, the festivities celebrated the graduates of 2020, who originally received their degrees virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both groups were cheered on by alumni spanning the 5th to the 70th reunions, illustrating once again the enduring ties that bind members of the Brown family.
As graduates, parents, and longtime volunteers, we relish the broad range of accomplishments celebrated every year and the vast potential for impact our graduates carry with them when they walk through the Van Wickle Gates. Seeing each student take the next step toward their personal and professional goals reminds us that Brown is an incubator of promise and progress. Together, our community has the collective power to sustain the fulfillment of this mission for generations to come.
Support for the BrownTogether campaign is ensuring that our faculty, students, and alumni — regardless of their chosen pathways — can continue to shape the future of our rapidly changing and deeply interconnected world. In this issue of the campaign newsletter, we provide a glimpse into the ways in which your support is making possible leadership development in public health; promising emergency medical interventions for vulnerable populations; and the bright future of the Royce Fellowship program, which allows students to design their own research projects.
Over the past two years, we have gained a deeper understanding of the complex issues we face as a society. But, we have also demonstrated our ability to meet and overcome these challenges. The Brown community has taken this opportunity to reaffirm its values, reinforce the importance of resilience and flexibility, and direct resources to the areas in which we can make a profound difference. We hope that you will continue to stand with us as we pave the way for tomorrow’s leaders.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72, LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
Read the Summer 2022 Campaign Impact Newsletter
One of the things that we love about Brown is the way it continuously evolves to meet the challenges of the current moment. Students, faculty, staff, the administration, and the broader community are united behind a growth mindset; how can we all contribute to increasing Brown’s impact on today’s most pressing issues and preparing our students to address the concerns of tomorrow?
Over the last six years, the BrownTogether campaign has fueled this type of growth in areas where the University can lead the way forward, including brain science, economics and inequality, entrepreneurship, international affairs, and engineering. But, true to form, this community is not content with just reaching the $3 billion campaign milestone; we see so many more opportunities for partnership, transformation, and leadership.
Based on our commitment to opening new channels of discovery and guided by the University’s core values, President Christina H. Paxson has announced an extension of the campaign that will build upon all we have accomplished thus far. The extension will prioritize areas of continuing importance to Brown and the world, such as public health, biomedical research, the role of the creative arts and the humanities in understanding the human experience, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. It will also redouble our efforts to elevate the student experience through enhanced financial aid programs, stronger athletics and recreation programs, and the establishment of a best-in-class career exploration and preparation center.
The level to which we are raising our sights would not be possible without the impressive generosity and involvement of Brown’s alumni, parents, donors, and friends. You support our vision of sustained excellence, and your ongoing engagement fuels continual improvement for the benefit of the next generation. We are aiming higher than ever before, and together we can lift Brown to remarkable heights.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72, LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
(Spring 2022)
More than six years into the most ambitious campaign in Brown’s history, we have already witnessed multiple significant achievements driven by our community’s generosity and involvement. The Performing Arts Center is close to completion on Angell Street, and students are already living and gathering in Sternlicht Commons and accessing integrated health services in the new Brown University Health & Wellness Center. Gifts large and small have totaled $342 million in new scholarship aid. Support of research endeavors from engineering to medicine to the social sciences is giving our faculty and students the resources they need to effect change beyond the boundaries of College Hill.
This year, in particular, Brown constituents pulled together in creative ways to ensure the continuation of this momentum. As a result, 2021 was the University’s most successful fundraising year ever, with a total of $430.5 million in new gifts and pledges. This total includes a record-setting year for the Brown Annual Fund, with $47.3 million contributed by more than 31,000 donors.
Public health continues to dominate the news, and members of the Brown community have recognized that the University is well positioned to lead in areas such as pandemic preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, and diversity in health care. As a result, donors committed more than $28 million to support the School of Public Health’s top priorities, and more than $30 million in contributions allowed Brown to establish the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research—a joint endeavor of the Division of Biology and Medicine and the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science.
In this newsletter, we touch on additional campaign successes, including prestigious grants awarded to faculty members and the five-year anniversary of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship. Whether you live down the street from campus or maintain your ties to the University from afar, your investments are part of this collective effort, which has been nothing short of transformative for Brown, its faculty, and its students. Thank you for all you do to make this possible.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72, LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
(Fall 2021)
As spring turns to summer, we recognize Brown has a great deal to celebrate. We applaud the way our students came together to keep one another connected to the Brown experience throughout remote learning. We are proud of the dedication our faculty demonstrated in maintaining both dynamic teaching and innovative research in difficult circumstances. And, we are deeply grateful for the indispensable efforts of our alumni, parents, and friends, who helped the University weather a complex year.
The collaborative spirit of our community is extraordinary—a fact that was highlighted as Brown navigated the pandemic. Through the BrownTogether campaign, our donors have continuously stepped up. Your commitment to supporting updated technology for remote learning, virtual undergraduate internships, public health outreach, and seed funding for research ensured that Brown could sustain the highest level of academic excellence and public impact, regardless of the challenges that arose.
Your contributions have strengthened financial aid, established new endowed faculty positions, and underwritten innovation throughout the curriculum. They also drove the rapid advancement of Brown’s work to combat Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, with funding for two new research centers. Both centers will expand opportunities for joint research projects, translation of discoveries into new diagnostic tools and therapeutics, and student training to develop the next generation of scientists.
You are the catalysts for this ongoing success. Your generosity both reinforces a sense of pride and possibility at Brown and produces tangible results that reach far beyond the gates. We hope these positive stories from College Hill continue to inspire you, and we offer thanks to those who have invested in Brown’s future.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72 LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
(Summer 2021)
The pursuits and achievements of Brown’s exceptional students fill us with pride. We revel in their successes. We enjoy connecting with them and answering their questions about life after Brown. We draw inspiration from the new paths they carve out in their chosen fields. They are tomorrow’s problem solvers, and we, as alumni and friends of Brown, stand behind them as they prepare for the future.
This year our students, and our seniors in particular, faced obstacles that no one could have anticipated. They've responded to these challenges with the resilience and dedication that has always permeated the Brown community. But they were not alone in their efforts to persevere. Alumni, parents, and friends of the University showed phenomenal generosity and thoughtfulness in providing support through the BrownTogether campaign for remote learning, creating alternatives to in-person internships, and expanding financial aid for students whose families were experiencing increased economic hardship.
Our community members also recognize that the development of our students depends upon a faculty body with a wide array of expertise and experience. Over the last year, there has been a groundswell of support for endowed faculty positions, which strengthen Brown’s ability to recruit exceptional teachers, scholars, and researchers in a highly competitive landscape. To date, alumni, parents, and friends have funded more than 100 endowed chairs during the BrownTogether campaign. When our students work and learn alongside these leaders in their fields, they see firsthand the impact they can have on the world.
As we continue to preserve the most distinctive aspects of a Brown education in a rapidly changing world, the campaign remains focused on key areas in which our faculty and students can produce real change, including medicine, public health, environmental sciences, and international and public affairs.
We hope you take just as much pride as we do in the progress we have made through the campaign. The stories of impact in this newsletter demonstrate the tremendous power we have when we come together as a community to shape and support a brighter future.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72 LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
As 2020 draws to a close, we want to express how truly grateful we are for the Brown community’s collective generosity and unwavering support. With your help, the University was able to successfully navigate this year’s unexpected challenges. We feel fortunate to have alumni, parents, and friends who thoughtfully directed their giving to the University’s top priorities through the BrownTogether campaign.
Over the past 12 months, campaign contributions have strengthened financial aid and access to internships; funded endowed chairs for faculty recruitment and retention; expanded our scholars’ capacity to produce research focused on some of society’s most pressing issues; accelerated the University’s pursuit of novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and cancer; helped maintain exceptional teaching as we transitioned to remote learning; and enabled the School of Public Health to lead the way forward in the fight against COVID-19.
In addition, the Brown family came together virtually for two successful giving days. For Bruno Gives Back Day (October 28), more than 4,000 donors contributed over $1.7 million in current-use funding for Brown Athletics, while Giving Tuesday (December 1) saw more than $4 million raised for financial aid and other immediate needs through the Brown Annual Fund.
These achievements and other notable campaign accomplishments this year have positioned us well to carry this momentum forward in the coming months through a number of activities. These include a fundraising challenge that will match 1:1 all endowment gifts to The Brown Promise, a drive to create more Brown Annual Fund Scholarships in celebration of 30 years of scholarship support through BAF, and a challenge that will match 1:1 all gifts to the Inman Page Council BAF Scholarship.
We invite you to join us in sustaining Brown’s commitment to academic excellence and service to society, and reinforcing the power this community has to make a difference in the world.
With best wishes for the holiday season,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72 LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
Since our last Campaign Impact Newsletter in late May, members of the Brown community have been hard at work addressing the various ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic. This work has made it clear that the support of our alumni, donors, and friends has fortified our capacity to respond to the biggest challenges we face as a society.
As co-chairs of the BrownTogether campaign, we are thrilled that you continue to stand with us as we secure funding to enhance financial aid for students coping with economic hardship, ensure the health and safety of all University constituents, and provide both faculty and students with the resources they need to thrive in a drastically different learning environment.
The success of the campaign to this point has positioned Brown for leadership in a variety of areas, but perhaps none more important at this moment than diversity and inclusion. Our community members are doing exceptional work to confront anti-Black bias and contribute to the elimination of systemic racism. In this newsletter, we are proud to highlight initiatives of Brown’s Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America through which we are building collective understanding and taking direct action to effect change.
This newsletter is intended to offer a snapshot of the contributions Brown is making to a rapidly evolving world and train a spotlight on the ways in which your generosity and involvement in the life of Brown are making a difference every day. We hope you will continue to follow our progress in the months and years to come.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72 LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
Three months ago, we could not have predicted how the novel coronavirus pandemic would change our lives. But we certainly could have predicted how the Brown community would respond.
Brunonians are dedicated to finding solutions to society’s most pressing problems and improving lives. It comes as no surprise, then, that our students, faculty, alumni, and staff have immediately put their skills to work for the benefit of us all. Their flexibility, willingness to collaborate, and kindness mirror the values that have guided Brown’s contributions to the world for more than 250 years.
As the BrownTogether Campaign Co-Chairs, we are proud of the myriad ways in which our extended community has come together to help. So many have made gifts toward emergency support for our students, transformed planned internships at their companies into remote opportunities, or reached out to partner with faculty on COVID-related research and prevention. Although we are all in uncharted waters, these actions show that Brunonians are uniting to assist the University in weathering this crisis and continuing to fulfill its mission.
The consequences of this global health crisis present us with some of the biggest challenges the University has ever faced. But the situation also reminds us how deeply relevant Brown’s top priorities—including deciphering disease and understanding population health—are to our collective present and future. We hope you will read on to learn what our community members are doing to help others and live up to the ideal of Brown, together.
Ever True,
Theresia Gouw '90
Ralph F. Rosenberg '86, P'17
Joan Wernig Sorensen '72 LHD'19 hon., P'06 P'06
Read the Spring 2020 Campaign Impact Newsletter