PEMBROKE – The Office for Advancement at UNC Pembroke won a major national award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recently.

The office that supports fundraising and alumni at UNCP received the 2010 CASE Educational Fundraising “Overall Improvement Award” for their performance over the past three years.  

More than 200 CASE member institutions fit the criteria for the awards, and from them, UNCP was among 12 chosen for this recognition. The award is a component of CASE’s Circle of Excellence program.

“Our improvement over the past three years in several key areas was among the most impressive in the nation,” said Sandy Waterkotte, vice chancellor for Advancement.

“We’re very pleased and excited to be recognized in this way by such a prestigious organization,” Waterkotte said. “The entire division must be acknowledged because they all made this possible.”

Chancellor Kyle R. Carter also lauded the work of the Advancement Division.

“I am delighted that UNCP’s Advancement Division received this recognition from CASE,” Chancellor Carter said. “I applaud their success and look forward to their continued work pairing the philanthropic wishes of the community with UNC Pembroke.”

Indeed, the past few years have been a tipping point for UNCP’s Office for Advancement. From 2000-05, UNCP raised approximately $1 million annually, but in the four years from 2006-09, the University raised nearly $17.5 million.

Since 2005, eight endowed chairs were established or pledged at UNCP. By comparison, prior to 2005 there were three endowed or permanently funded professorships at UNCP.

The eight professorships are: 1) James Thomas professorship in entrepreneurship; 2) BB&T chair in the Philosophical Foundations of Free Enterprise; 3) BB&T chair in the Moral Foundations of Capitalism; 4) Joseph B. Oxendine chair in educational leadership; 5) Anne R. Belk chair in nursing; 6) Allen C. Meadors distinguished professorship in mathematics education, 7) Brenda Brooks distinguished professorship in nursing; and 8) the Zucker distinguished professorship in nursing.

In the institutional category of “public comprehensive institutions,” UNCP won along with Texas A&M International University and the University of Maryland University College.

A panel of volunteer judges selected winners based on a number of factors including:

growth in total support and type of support; breadth in program areas and growth in each program area; pattern of donor growth among alumni and other individual donors; impact of the 12 largest gifts on total support; total support in relation to the alumni base; and type of institution.