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Faculty-Staff campaign kicks off at law school

Posted 3/15/2011

Marshall Eakin, professor of history, speaks March 15 at Flynn Auditorium as part of the Faculty-Staff Campaign kick-off event (Steve Green/Vanderbilt)

Faculty and staff were encouraged to contribute to aspects of Vanderbilt that have touched them personally at the 2011 Faculty-Staff Campaign kick-off event.

Representatives from departments across campus gathered at the law school’s Flynn Auditorium March 15 to hear about this year’s internal giving campaign, which promotes the theme “Building a Stronger Vanderbilt from the Inside Out.”

Last year, Vanderbilt employees gave a little more than $1 million to the university, with 75 percent of those funds earmarked for a specific cause or department. About 32 percent of employees participated last year, and organizers hope to increase that percentage.

The Department of Communication Studies' Diane Banks and Marshall Eakin, professor of history, are co-chairs of this year's campaign.

In Eakin’s address, he explained that he donates to a scholarship fund that supports the field he is most passionate about: Latin American Studies.

“This is personal for me,” Eakin said. “It’s important that we support the people and programs we care most about  – that we give back to our own community.”

Provost Richard McCarty described how donations to the campaign not only affect the campus but the world.

“Our students are reaching out around the globe and through your participation, you are helping make that happen,” he said.

He added that his grandchildren have spent time at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt emergency room, which he has added to his giving list.

“This is our community, and it is important to give back to your own community,” he said. “Find what is most meaningful for you.”

Student Sanah Ladhani, an Ingram Scholar, testified to the life-changing effects of receiving scholarships funded by the giving campaign, which enabled her to travel to Zanzibar, Tanzania to teach English and computer skills in an impoverished region. She recently worked with the homeless and the HIV/AIDS communities of Los Angeles through Alternative Spring Break, another giving campaign recipient.

“These scholarship funds have allowed my peers and me to become local, national and global citizens,” she said. “They have allowed us to apply our academic knowledge to real life experiences and be able to critically examine the world in which we live.”

The campaign runs now through June 30. For more details, visit the 2011 Faculty-Staff Giving Campaign website.

Contact: Joan Brasher, (615) 322-NEWS
joan.a.brasher@vanderbilt.edu