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To Soar Campaign Raises Over $65 Million

Campaign Celebrates Record-Breaking Private Support

Jim Henderson and John Johnson Daytona Beach, Fla., Feb. 4, 2009 -- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University today announced it closed the books on its most successful fundraising campaign – To Soar – at the end of 2008 raising $65.3 million in gifts and pledges.

“This is a high-water mark in Embry-Riddle history,” said Dr. John P. Johnson, Embry-Riddle president. “Thanks to the generous supporters of our To Soar campaign, we have broadened and deepened the quality of education we offer our students.”

More than $30 million in donations was pledged toward new facilities and an additional $28.8 million was directed to new scholarships and fellowships, according to Johnson. Coupled with its ongoing $125 million investment in its residential and Worldwide campuses, “Embry-Riddle is better equipped than we’ve ever been to offer the best education in aviation and aerospace in the world,” according to Johnson.

Completed campus facilities that have been totally funded or partially funded by donor support during the campaign include:

Jay Adams

  • Willie Miller Instructional Center (Daytona Beach campus)
  • ICI Center (Daytona Beach campus)
  • Gale Lemerand Auditorium (part of the Willie Miller Center)
  • Ambassador E. William Crotty Tennis Complex (Daytona Beach campus)
  • Christina and Steven Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center (Prescott campus)
  • Fred and Fay Haas Memorial Interfaith Chapel (Prescott campus)
  • S. Harry Robertson Safety Center, Phase I and II (Prescott campus)
Additional support also has been pledged for construction projects now underway, such as the James Hagedorn Aviation Complex and the Emil Buehler Aviation Maintenance Science Building on the Daytona Beach campus and phase two of the S. Harry Robertson Safety Center on the Prescott campus.

“Much of the new construction and growth we’ve experienced is the direct result of the success of our To Soar campaign,” Johnson said.

The culmination of the To Soar campaign caps off a period of unprecedented financial support of Embry-Riddle, according to Jim Henderson, chairman of the Embry-Riddle Board of Trustees, who credits President Johnson’s leadership over the past two and a half years as the real impetus.

“At no time in our history has Embry-Riddle enjoyed the unified support of so many people,” Henderson noted. “During President Johnson’s tenure, we have enjoyed the two best consecutive years of fundraising in our university’s history. It is a testament to his leadership and vision that we concluded our campaign on such a high note.”

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering, educating more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs. Doctoral programs in aviation and in engineering physics are pending approval by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for the University to offer programs at the doctoral level. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.