Dean's Club members gather to celebrate success

Dean Kellye Testy, the Law Alumni Board and charter members of the Dean’s Club welcomed new and prospective members at a reception earlier this month at Benaroya Hall. Dean’s Club members – alumni and friends who contribute $1,000 or more annually – celebrated the growing number of donors providing critical support and advocacy for Seattle University School of Law.

Dean Testy also welcomed the law school’s seven new faculty members, all of whom were in attendance, and introduced Associate Professor Catherine O’Neill, chair of the Environmental, Natural Resource and Land Use Focus Area. Professor O’Neill spoke eloquently about the justice work of students, faculty and staff at the law school and provided an insightful introduction to the work and writing of Terry Tempest Williams, the author and environmental visionary whose lecture Dean’s Club members attended later that same evening.

For more information about the Dean’s Club, please contact Director of Annual Giving Satcha Dearborn Graham at dearborn@seattleu.edu.

School of Law thanks the community for a banner 35th anniversary year

The law school topped its 35th year with the celebration of its first faculty chair and three professorships, while recognizing 1,111 individuals and organizations who contributed to the school in 2007-08, a record-breaking year for giving.

Through increased participation by alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff, the law school was the beneficiary of both unrestricted gifts to the Annual Fund for Excellence and restricted gifts for special purposes. The impact is huge: additional scholarships, increased faculty support, expanded opportunities for domestic and international externships and internships, the school’s new website and other publications designed to keep us connected, increased support of student organizations and initiatives, and so much more in support of our core commitments.

Here’s a snapshot of 2007-08 giving (July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008):

• For the first time ever, more than 1,000 individuals and organizations made a financial contribution to the law school – a 56 percent increase in the numbers of donors over 2007.
• New donors, who made their first gift ever to the annual fund, totaled 383, an 88 percent increase over 2007.
• The 2007-08 Annual Fund for Excellence received $210,000 in unrestricted gifts, a nearly 150 percent increase since 2005.
• Total gifts to the law school exceeded $4.8 million, including gifts to the annual fund and restricted gifts for special purposes – an 85 percent increase over last year and a 250 percent increase since 2005.
• Membership in the Dean’s Club – made up of individuals and organizations that contribute $1,000 annually – was up 145 percent over 2005, from 60 to 147 this year. (Dean’s Club members are also Seattle University President’s Club members).
• The Class of 2008 celebrated a 43 percent participation rate, the largest in law school history.

For more details, look for the 2007-08 annual report in the winter issue of the Lawyer.

There's never been a better time to give

On the eve of an election of our next president, and during the country’s financial crisis, it is important that we take special care of the people and institutions that are important to us, that make a difference in the community, that improve our world. Seattle University School of Law is such an institution. Read a message from Dean Kellye Testy about the importance of giving to the 2008-09 Annual Fund.