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The MBA Class of 2003 achieved unprecedented
levels for both participation and giving in their
second-year class gift campaign. In a challenging
economic time, when many students were still
seeking jobs at the time of the campaign, a phenomenal 98 percent of the Class of 2003 contributed a record $470,539 to The Wharton Fund.
"We gave because we know the impact that
Wharton is going to have on the rest of our lives,
in good economic times and bad," wrote co-chairs
Corinne Chao, WG'03 and Katie Mensch, WG'03, in
a letter thanking the class.
Wharton faculty also made an unprecedented
commitment to the campaign, with 86 percent of
faculty contributing more than $725,000 to the
campaign. "Wharton faculty members feel very
proud of their institution and want to support it,"
said William Hamilton, WG'64, Ralph Landau
Professor of Management and Technology and
director of the Jerome Fisher Management and
Technology Program, who chaired a committee of
faculty from different departments who organized
the faculty gift campaign. "The most common
comment I received when I'd ask someone was
that it was an honor to be asked to serve and to
contribute personally. The contributions were
more than we expected. The faculty feel very
strongly about the School."
Dean Harker explains why the faculty and class
giving campaigns were so transformational.
"These gifts did not come in million-or even
hundred-thousand-dollar increments, yet their
impact was unprecedented. The graduating
classes and the faculty have raised the bar for
the Wharton community and set a standard for
participation."
Transforming Knowledge:
Endowed Professorships Recognize Academic Excellence
The Campaign for Sustained
Leadership created 26 new endowed
professorships, helping Wharton
attract and retain leading professors
in key business disciplines.
Susan Wachter, a pioneering researcher in real
estate economics and housing affordability,
helped establish and build Wharton's world-class
real estate department with colleagues Peter
Linneman and Joseph Gyourko.The department is
consistently recognized by its peers as the best in
its field, and faculty members have achieved international recognition. Given their stellar reputation,
it is no surprise that Wharton's faculty members
are attractive targets for other institutions seeking
to build their own departments. Wachter herself
has been sought after through an endowed
professorship by another institution seeking to strengthen its own real estate department.
She is still happily at Wharton, where
she was recognized earlier this year with
the new Richard B. Worley Professor of
Financial Management. "It is a great
honor," she said. "It is a validation of a life-time of work by one's peers and also the
world at large. It shows that the world of
industry has faith in our work and wishes to
contribute to the ongoing mission of the
institution. This level of recognition is
important not only to the current holder but
also to those coming afterward."
Wachter is particularly pleased to hold a
professorship honoring a leader in the
world of finance because Wharton's real
estate department established its reputation, in large part, through its distinctive
focus in going beyond bricks and mortar to
integrate financial insights into theory and
practice. "That is how the department
became a leader," Wachter said. "So it is
particularly meaningful to hold a chair
named for an extraordinarily well respected
leader in the finance industry."
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