A Clark School Giving Priority

In Brief

The new Keystone Program encourages the school's best faculty members to teach our most fundamental courses. Faculty members are selected from throughout the school, given renewable three-year appointments with a base salary increase and discretionary funds to support their activities, and are assisted by additional support personnel. Courses are closely reviewed to achieve academic excellence and high student interest. Funding has been contributed to launch the program; substantial new resources are needed to expand it to all freshman and sophomore courses.

Impact

Keystone brings beginning engineers an enhanced educational experience, reinforces and recognizes outstanding teaching, and serves as a national model for increasing engineering student retention and graduation rates.

Giving Opportunities

Your gift can increase the impact of the Keystone Program in the following ways:

• Program naming: your gift will provide a financial foundation for the program and independence into the future
• Support for personnel: your gifts to name professorships, assistantships, and distinguished adjunct professors will allow us to add personnel and extend the program into more courses
• Support for program facilities and equipment will raise the level and range of our capabilities in the classroom and beyond.

How to Participate

We encourage you to learn more about the Keystone Program by visiting one of our Keystone courses, or discussing the program with a Keystone professor or Clark School development officer.

Please contact us for more information.

A Clark School Giving Priority

In Brief

The Clark School has benefited immensely from the many professorships created over the years by alumni and friends to honor great teachers and innovators and attract and retain more of them. An outstanding faculty makes a great difference not only in the teaching of undergraduates but also in the building of leading research programs that improve life and attract corporate and government funding-and the best graduate students. Now the Clark School seeks to expand significantly the number and size of its professorships so that it may more closely match the funding available to other leading engineering schools for this crucial need.

Impact

New professorships will help the Clark School to compete more successfully in attracting and retaining the very best researchers and teachers, with the specific goal of increasing the number of Clark School professors who are members of the National Academy of Engineering.

Opportunities

You can support the Clark School faculty in the following ways:

• Create faculty chairs and professorships, with naming recognition for fully-funded support
• Create term professorships through endowment gifts or gifts over a period of years to support a specific professor
• Create term research professorships for new faculty, to ensure their recruitment and to provide support for them to launch their research programs
• Create centers of excellence, in which one or more senior and several junior faculty members with a shared research focus are recruited together
• Provide funds to support professors' research equipment purchases
• Provide funds to support young faculty and graduate student travel to professional conferences.

How to Participate

We encourage you to join the alumni and friends who have linked their names to an honored professor and strengthened the Clark School's faculty by establishing chairs and professorships.

Please contact us for more information.

A Clark School Giving Priority

In Brief

Alumni and friends of the Clark School have generously supported undergraduate scholarships, enabling the school to compete successfully for the very best students around the country and raising the school's profile accordingly. While key graduate fellowships have also been established, the time has now come to increase the number of such fellowships well beyond current levels, so that the Clark School more nearly equals the offerings of other top institutions: at present our fellowship endowment is less than 10 percent of the average endowment of the top five public engineering schools.

Impact

Fellowships will attract greater numbers of exceptional graduate students to the Clark School, providing a creative jolt to our research and education programs. More top graduate students will stimulate and support the faculty and undergraduates with whom they work and interact, and result in the increased numbers of top investigators and teachers the nation needs.

Giving Opportunities

Your gift can improve Clark School graduate education in the following ways:
 

•  Endow a fellowship to allow an exceptional student to study without the financial worries that encumber partially- or self-financed students
•  Provide funds to support student attendance at professional conferences
•  Provide funds to help students and their faculty mentors purchase the necessary equipment to support the students' research
•  Provide bridge funds to carry a student over the summer, a time when many students lose funding while waiting for new support
•  Provide emergency funds for graduate students whose family situations require temporary financial support.

How to Participate

We encourage you to learn more about the value of supporting Clark School graduate students and the research and educational programs that they do so much to advance.

Please contact us for more information.

Goal: $50 Million

Through extensive consultation with our Board of Visitors, faculty, staff and students, we have developed a wide range of new programs to expand the Clark School's research, education and entrepreneurship capabilities and create exciting new opportunities for innovation. (Listed below are four primary examples.) Some of these programs are already in progress with some degree of support; some need start-up funding; some are in the planning stages.

Advancing the Promise of Bioengineering

With the creation of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, through the $31 million gift of Robert E. Fischell and his family, we have added a complete undergraduate bioengineering curriculum to the existing graduate program and established bioengineering as a major area of interest and expertise on campus. We encourage those with a strong commitment to health and health care to offer their ideas for further advancing this important new capability, which holds such promise for students, the school and society.

More Information on the Fischell Department of Bioengineering

Helping Young Engineers Find Their Way: A New Student Services Center

The Clark School provides students excellent advising, academic support, internship, co-op, international studies and recruitment services, plus specialized support for minority students and women. Yet we do so under conditions that ultimately limit our effectiveness, providing services in a variety of locations that are not easy to find and utilize, do not encourage cross-program communication and do not welcome corporate visitors. With funding from the Great Expectations campaign, we will create a new Engineering Student Services Center, a physical space that will unify and facilitate interaction among all existing programs, provide new programs to foster improved writing and speaking skills, and deliver a higher level of assistance to students and employers.

More Information on the Student Services Center

Hot Start-Up: The Center for Technology Entrepreneurship

Brian Hinman's gift to establish Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities (Hinman CEOs) has created one of the nation's top entrepreneurship education and support programs for undergraduates, with new companies founded every year. We seek to build and enlarge upon our success by creating a new Center for Technology Entrepreneurship that will not only provide additional resources for Hinman CEOs students, but also extend the program to graduate students. Support for the center will enable more entrepreneurial students to stay in Maryland and build their companies here, creating new jobs and opportunities for years to come.

More Information on the Center for Technology Entrepreneurship

New Energy Research Center Focuses Clark School Efforts

The Clark School has established research programs in a wide range of energy topics, from solar cells and hydrogen fuel cells to nuclear power. We are now building the cross disciplinary University of Maryland Energy Research Center, supported in part by gifts from the Great Expectations campaign, to focus and carry forward exciting energy research and education programs. A gift to the Energy Center through the Great Expectations campaign will help us devise cost-effective alternative energy solutions for Maryland, the United States and the world.

More Information on the Energy Research Center

How You Can Help

To learn more about opportunities to advance the work of the Clark School, and to discuss your own ideas and plans, please contact us.

A Revolution: The Clark Scholarship Endowment for Undergraduates

When A. James Clark established the $30 million Clark Scholarship Endowment in 2005, he started a revolution whose effects will be felt for decades to come. His endowment provides a range of large and smaller scholarships, specifically for undergraduate engineering students, on the bases of merit, need and diversity. We welcome further gifts in support of undergraduate scholarships, and a large portion of our campaign goal is targeted for that purpose. However, we are giving even greater focus to graduate fellowships. If you are considering a gift to support our students, please consider the needs of graduate students.

Answering the Critical Need for Graduate Fellowships

At the Clark School, our graduate fellowship endowment is less than 10 percent of the mean graduate fellowship endowment of the top five public engineering schools. We have managed to do a good job of recruiting and producing graduate students, including from under-represented minorities; in fact, we are the nation's leading source of African American doctorate degrees in engineering. But with funding from the Great Expectations campaign, we will create a new range of graduate fellowships to attract and retain more of the best candidates for all Clark School departments.

Greater numbers of exceptional graduate students will mean an influx of new research ideas and interests, better-staffed research labs, and added inducement for the very best faculty to join us. A gift in support of graduate fellowships will also help us fulfill our responsibility to produce more engineering graduate students to meet the nation's growing demand.

More information on Fellowships

How You Can Help

To learn more about opportunities to advance the work of the Clark School, and to discuss your own ideas and plans, please contact us.
 

Dedicated alumni and friends choose to support the Clark School in their estate plans, creating legacies that provide the school long-term funding and potentially generate income for donors or their loved ones. Types of planned gifts include:

Bequests

By making a provision in your will, you may be able to make a substantial gift from your collected assets.  For example, you may commit a percentage of your overall estate value, a sum of cash, or otherwise described property.

Life Income Gifts

The gift options described below can provide you with income for life coupled with tax benefits.

♦ Charitable Gift Annuities

A charitable gift annuity is established by transferring assets to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation to administer. The Foundation manages the assets on behalf of the Clark School of Engineering. In return, the Foundation will provide regular, fixed payments to you for the rest of your life.

♦ Charitable Lead Trusts

A charitable lead trust is created by placing assets in-trust for a term of time, with a designated payment to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation. At the end of the term, the assets revert back to you or your family, often with advantageous tax benefits for you and your family.

♦ Charitable Remainder Trust

You may establish a charitable remainder trust by transferring cash, securities or property to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation. There are two types:

• In a standard charitable remainder trust (or unitrust), you or a designated beneficiary receives a predetermined percentage of the trust for life or a fixed term.
• In a charitable remainder annuity trust, you receive a fixed dollar amount every year for life or for a fixed term.

With both the charitable remainder trust and the charitable remainder annuity trust, the assets remaining after all disbursements go to the Foundation to benefit the Clark School as you have designated.

♦ Pooled Income Funds

In a pooled income fund, your contribution is invested along with other contributions, in a manner similar to a mutual fund. These funds pay quarterly income to you or a beneficiary of your choice, based on the fund's earnings, either for life or for a period of time, which you may determine.

Please contact your financial or tax professional to discuss which option best suits your needs. Selecting a planned giving method now will enable you to determine how your estate will be distributed, rather than rely on another party to do so if you become unable to make these decisions.

To learn more about planned or estate gifts and how they support our students and faculty, please send e-mail to or call one of our development staff.
 

Despite the volatility of the stock market, stocks remain popular as gifts to the Clark School. Stocks often represent the best value if you want to make a substantial gift yet keep cash flow intact.  Stocks bought at a substantially reduced cost may increase the value of your gift over time, as well as provide added tax advantages. There are no hard and fast rules for selecting a stock as a gift; the best choices will depend on the overall makeup of your portfolio. Here are a few general points to consider:

• Stocks with appreciated value will give you the maximum leverage for an untaxed profit.
• By giving stocks in which you may have an over-weighted position in your portfolio, you may receive valuable tax relief while lightening your position.
• Stocks with potential for increased value as charitable gifts now may allow you important tax savings if you consider your future capital gains tax liability.

Income Potential Through Gifts of Stock

Stocks may be used to structure gifts that will yield a direct income stream for you or for someone you designate. These life income plans may generate substantial tax benefits in the year they are set up, while providing income for the donor for life or a designated term of years.

For example, using stock to fund a life income plan may help you minimize or avoid capital gains tax when the university converts the stock on your behalf. The undiluted proceeds can be used to generate a high income stream for your lifetime or for a designated term of years. In addition, you receive a substantial income tax charitable deduction, which further improves your cash flow.

Another benefit may be to restore balance in your portfolio. Selling off stock can incur a large and unwanted capital gains tax. You may avoid this tax by using the stock to fund a life income plan, while re-balancing your portfolio.

Please contact your financial and tax professional to further discuss which option best suits your needs.

For a confidential discussion about giving gifts of stock, please
send e-mail to or call one of our development staff.

The following questions are among those most commonly asked by prospective donors to the Clark School. For more information or to arrange a confidential discussion, please send e-mail to or call one of our development staff.

Q:   Do I have different options in making a gift to the Clark School?
A:  You may choose the type of asset (cash or non-cash) to contribute, the giving method (direct or planned), and the initiative you would like to support (a fund, program, scholarship, department, and so on).

Q:  May I pledge a gift and spread it out over a period of time?
A:  You may pledge a gift of $5,000 or more and pay for it over a maximum five-year term.

Q:  May I make a gift to recognize or memorialize someone?
A:  Yes, you may make your gift in recognition of a special loved one, friend, or colleague, or to memorialize someone who is deceased. For more information or a confidential discussion, please send e-mail to or call one of our development staff.

Q:  Is my gift tax deductible?
A:  All gifts to the A. James Clark School of Engineering are tax deductible.

Q:  How can I make a gift that will last forever as a tribute to someone?
A:  You may endow your gift so that it lives in perpetuity. The gift's principal will be invested soundly and a percentage of the income generated will be designated as you wish. For more information or a confidential discussion, please send e-mail to or call one of our development staff.

Q:  How can I give online?
A:  Gifts to our annual fund, the Maryland Fund for Excellence may be made online quickly and securely. For other types of gifts such as establishing a scholarship or professorship and estate gifts, please send an e-mail to clark-giving@umd.edu or call one of our development staff.

Q:  May I make a gift through my estate or will?
A:  There are numerous ways to use your estate as a means to take care of loved ones after you're gone, while realizing your philanthropic goals. For more personalized information or a confidential discussion, please send an e-mail to clark-giving@umd.edu or call one of our development staff.

Q:  Are there other tax breaks or income-producing opportunities for me through my gift?
A:  There are various ways of structuring your gift whereby you will be provided with a stream of income in addition to a tax break.  Please contact your finance or tax professional directly, send an e-mail to clark-giving@umd.edu or call one of our development staff.

The Clark School's development staff stands ready to assist you in any way that will make it easier and more satisfying to contribute to the Clark School.

• If you are just beginning to explore contributing, we can provide information and examples that will help you understand your options.
• If you would like help in arranging a gift in honor or memory of a friend or loved one, we will be happy to explain how to  do so.
• If you would like to learn more about supporting specific research initiatives, we can arrange a discussion with an appropriate expert.
• If you would like to create a named scholarship, we can provide examples of other scholarships for comparison.
• If you would like to visit us on campus, or request that we come to your home or place of business to discuss a gift, we will help you arrange that discussion.
• If you have an idea for a gift that seems different from those described in these pages, we would be happy to talk it over with you and devise a way to accomplish your goals.

We look forward to speaking with you and helping you make your contribution to the Clark School.

Leslie Borak
(Major Individual Giving, including Planned Giving, Stock Gifts, Estate Gifts and Scholarships)
Assistant Dean for External Relations
Room 3220 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Email: lborak@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-0317

Jennifer Schwartz
Director of Development for Corporations and Foundations
(Major Institutional Giving, including Corporations, Foundations, Organizations and Corporate Partners)
Room 3218 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Email: jschwar2@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-8289

Josey Simpson
Director for Alumni Relations
(Alumni Relations)
Room 3216 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Email: josey@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-2150

Allison Corbett
Assistant Director of Development
(Individual Giving and Institutional Giving)
Room 3205 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
E-mail: acc@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-5841

Chelsea Brown
Stewardship Coordinator
(Donor Relations, including Scholarships and Events)
Room 3207 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
E-mail: crb@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-2799

Diane Hicks
Coordinator
(Assistant to Assistant Dean Leslie Borak, Development and Alumni Relations Support)
Room 3207 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Email: dhicks@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-3870

Stephanie Selzer
Administrative Assistant II
(Development and Alumni Relations Support)
Room 3207 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
E-mail: sselzer@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 405-5776