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Issue date: 6/5/08 Section: News

A rendering of the new building for the Williamson College of Business Administration.

The downtown site for the building.

Youngstown State University's Centennial Campaign fundraising effort is now at $42 million, just $1 million shy of its total goal of $43 milllion.

The campaign's most recent boost came in the form of a $500,000 donation from the William B. and Kathryn C. Pollock Foundation to the construction of the new building for the Williamson College of Business Administration.

"The Trustees of the Pollock Foundation recognize Youngstown State University's importance to the Mahoning Valley," said Franklin Bennett, co-trustee of the Foundation, in a news release on May 21.

Bennet said that the Pollock family has a legacy of supporting YSU, and the trustees are pleased to continue it.

That relationship goes back to when William B. Pollock II sat on the Board of Trustees for YSU, then called Youngstown University, in the '60s.

In honor of the donation, the new business college facility will feature an executive boardroom named after Pollock.

Earnings history

The Centennial Campaign began in 2004, after having been in discussions since 2002. It was made public in 2006, when fundraising had neared the halfway mark, said Paul McFadden, chief development officer for university development. McFadden said the campaign was not announced immediately to ensure potential donors that there was a good chance for it to be a success.

"We're meticulously planned," McFadden said.

He said that the goal of $43 million was reached after consulting all departments on campus and putting together a "wish list."

"It came back at well over $300 million," McFadden said, and that number was whittled down based on campus-wide input to the $43 million.

"Everything is on schedule or ahead of schedule," McFadden said about fundraising efforts, noting that the goal for scholarships was originally set at $7 million. The campaign has raised more than double that amount, he said.

McFadden said that there are some discovery activities aimed at determining need for future fundraising projects in the making for 2009, but that completion of the Centennial Campaign will remain the main focus for the next year.

"We're always looking ahead," he said.

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