Milestone Moment
light the world eclipses $1 billion, surges ahead with eye on impact
Spurred and stirred by the Light the World campaign, the Boston College community has secured more than $1 billion to date for priorities vital to the University’s present and future success. It’s a staggering accomplishment—more than double what was raised by BC’s last campaign, Ever to Excel.
Yet, as BC celebrates this feat of communal power and purpose, the campaign continues to inspire those who give to—and benefit from—this transformative endeavor.
Read on for a fresh perspective on two of the campaign’s funding focal points, and learn how two families have answered the call.
Targeting Research
In recent years, Boston College has risen to new heights of academic excellence—and Light the World donors have played a major role in that ascension.
Campaign benefactors have endowed faculty positions, provided undergraduate and graduate research fellowships, and funded specific investigations. Thanks to thoughtful investments like these, BC students are joining with leading academic researchers to detect cancers earlier and treat them more effectively; develop innovative teaching methods to engage urban teens in science; explore how infants comprehend their environments; and examine the smallest microparticles of matter.
The Sesquicentennial Challenge, launched in honor of the University’s 150th anniversary, now offers donors a special opportunity to create an assistant professorship, a critical academic role that shapes the student experience through meaningful research and thought leadership. The challenge—created by an anonymous benefactor who recognizes the power of faculty mentors—provides $500,000 in matching funds for any donor who commits $1 million to endow a $1.5-million assistant professorship at BC.
Investing in Excellence
Michael White ’74, P’95, explains the decision to establish the White Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professorship simply: “Top faculty are the key to a great education.”
White and his wife, Susan, consider their Light the World gift both a tribute to the many faculty members who made White’s experience at BC memorable and an investment in the University’s continued excellence.
“College is a time in one’s life when mentors are enormously important. I am still grateful to the professors who nurtured my development as a student and as a person, and I was thrilled to see my daughter, Larissa Booras ’95, JD’99, benefit from the same kind of committed, caring relationships at BC,” adds White, president and CEO of DIRECTV.
The Whites’ gift, like others made through the Sesquicentennial Challenge, will support the appointment of outstanding tenure-track junior faculty members who are rising stars in their fields. Students working with these dynamic academic leaders gain invaluable experience in cutting-edge research and scholarship.
“We felt that this was an extraordinary opportunity to make a lasting impact for Boston College students, both now and in the future,” says Susan White.
As the Whites note, talented faculty are key to the University’s pursuit of academic excellence, a vital priority of the Light the World campaign. To recruit and retain the most talented scholars, Boston College must fund its academic priorities—and campaign donors like the Whites make it possible for the University to realize this commitment.
Focus on Financial Aid
Thanks to the University's bedrock commitment to financial aid, students from every background can benefit from the distinctive BC experience.
Boston College is one of only 21 private institutions in the country that admit students “need-blind,” evaluating their potential to succeed rather than their ability to afford tuition and, once accepted, pledge to meet each student’s full demonstrated financial need.
Raising essential funds for financial aid—particularly the endowments that ensure it will always be there for deserving undergraduates—is a primary Light the World goal that epitomizes the University’s Jesuit, Catholic mission.
Campaign donors have already had a significant effect on today’s students as well as those who will come after them. Each year of the campaign, the University has increased need-based undergraduate financial aid to reach the $97 million that is earmarked for the 2013–2014 academic year. In order to continue to meet the financial demands of its students, the University must achieve its goal of raising $300 million dedicated to financial aid by the campaign’s close.
As long as talented young people are drawn to the rich educational environment of Boston College, the University remains dedicated to making it possible for them to become Eagles. Now more than ever, the donor community has a vital role to play in helping BC secure its mission.
The Family That Gives Together
For John Esposito ’88, attending Boston College’s Carroll School of Management was a dream come true. He had sought an undergraduate business program that also provided a broader liberal arts perspective.
“I feel so fortunate to have received a truly great education that prepared me thoroughly for my career,” says Esposito, a managing director at Morgan Stanley and head of its North American Financial Institutions Group. “It’s wonderful to be able to give back now and provide those opportunities for others.”
Recently, Esposito and his wife, Danielle, established the Esposito Family Scholarship together with his parents, Ellen and Michael Esposito, Jr., P’88, to provide financial aid to a deserving student at the Carroll School.
His father was happy to help. Now retired from his role as CFO at Chase Manhattan, Michael Esposito, Jr., is a founding member of BC’s Wall Street Council and a longtime University benefactor. “It’s a terrific school. I’ve always been impressed with the students I’ve met—I hired quite a few of them—and I can see the positive influence BC has had in my own family,” he says, adding, “The only time I root against BC is when they play my alma mater—Notre Dame!”
The family ties to Boston College remain robust. John Esposito’s sister-in-law, Wendy (Wyrwa) Esposito ’87, is another proud Eagle whose own experience inspired her to extend a helping hand to others. “At BC, you get more than an education. You learn how to be a person who cares about others and tries to live well in the world,” she says.
Accordingly, she and her husband, Michael Esposito III, created the Wendy and Michael Esposito Goldman Sachs Scholars Fund through the Goldman Sachs Gives program. The fund offers assistance to Lynch School of Education students who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of an education at the University.
With seven out of 10 Boston College students receiving some form of financial assistance, gifts like those made by the Esposito family are crucial to the University’s ability to maintain “need-blind” admission—an increasingly rare policy integral to the identity of Boston College, and a vital priority of Light the World.