| NIU Foundation kicks off ‘True North’
 The NIU Foundation has set a course for True North.
That is the theme of the university’s first-ever capital campaign, which kicked off with a gala dinner Saturday, May 5. Four hundred and seventy-five of NIU’s most loyal and influential supporters were on hand to help the university begin the public phase of a campaign to raise $150 million by 2010.
“True North is a value and a direction. It’s a celebration of everything NIU stands for – its core values of initiative, hard-work and access,” said NIU President John Peters. “It’s also about an appetite for opportunity, and above all, an abiding belief that focus, generosity and dedication can make the world a better place.”
The event launched the latest, and final, phase of a campaign that has been quietly in the works for nearly seven years – if raising $107 million can be called quiet.
Some of the gifts that comprise the total to date have transformed the landscape of campus, making possible buildings such as Barsema Hall, the Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon Academic and Athletic Performance Center and the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center.
Several recent gifts were announced at the kick-off.
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NIU receives its largest endowment gift ever
 Ray and Pat Smerge pledge $2 million for LA&S dean’s chair
In the midst of its search earlier this year for a new dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, NIU received a major gift from a benefactor that ultimately will help shape the role of the new dean for many decades to come.
Alumnus Ray Smerge and his wife Pat have pledged to give $2 million to NIU to establish an endowed dean’s chair in liberal arts and sciences.
“This is a transforming, momentum-building gift that demonstrates real leadership on behalf of Ray and Pat Smerge,” NIU President John Peters said. “The NIU community is extremely grateful, and the timing couldn’t be better, as we kick off a public campaign to build our endowment for academic opportunities.
“The Smerges’ pledge represents the largest endowment gift in the history of NIU, the largest gift from an individual to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the university’s first endowed dean’s chair,” Peters added.
When fully endowed, the Raymond and Patricia Smerge Endowed Dean’s Chair in Liberal Arts and Sciences will provide a significant annual income stream for the dean to use to benefit the college’s teaching and research enterprises.
“Ultimately, endowments are more enduring than even bricks and mortar,” Provost Raymond Alden said. “This is an exciting gift for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which touches the lives of all NIU students.”
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