Last year the gala raised $10,000 for the Advisory Board scholarship. The 2012 Chancellor's Gala is set for Sept. 28.
NEW KENSINGTON ON TRACK TO REACH ITS GOAL
More than two years remaining for
"For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students"
Campus Objectives: Create educational, cultural, and economic opportunities for the region
Giving Information:
Donna Speer, Director of Development, 724-334-6057, dms46@psu.edu via email.
Giving Online:
https://secure.imodules.com/s/1218/index.aspx?sid=1218&gid=1&pgid=658&cid=2321
(designate"Penn State New Kensington Future Fund")
As Penn State New Kensington continues the public phase of its fundraising campaign, "For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students," it reached its second milestone, the $2 million mark, in December. The campaign is a University-wide effort to raise $2 billion by June 2014. New Kensington is responsible for $3 million of the total.
"With two and a half years remaining in the campaign, we have raised sixty-six percent of our total,” said Donna Speer, New Kensington's director of development. “We are on track to reach our goal."
The campus campaign's objectives are designed to create educational, cultural, and economic opportunities for the region, specifically the Alle-Kiski Valley community. The main objective is to build a campus of the future that enriches the experiences of students beyond the classroom.
“Keeping a Penn State education affordable for families of modest means by increasing scholarship support is the campaign’s top priority," said Mardelle Kopnicky, co-chair of the campus campaign. “At its heart, this is a campaign for Penn State students—to enable the next generation, and all the succeeding generations, of our graduates to realize their full potential as individuals to sustain their families, advance their professions, and contribute to our country’s strength. “
For more information on the campus campaign, contact Donna Speer, director of development, 724-334-6057 or
dms46@psu.edu via email.
To give online,
https://secure.imodules.com/s/1218/index.aspx?sid=1218&gid=1&pgid=658&cid=232
(Please designate "Penn State New Kensington Future Fund")
CAMPAIGN OBJECTVES
Ensuring student access and opportunity through scholarship support is one of the objectives for the overall campaign. The five key objectives of the campus campaign mirror those of the University's campaign. They are:
-- Ensure Student Opportunity: Students with the ability and ambition to attend Penn State will have this opportunity through scholarship support.
-- Enriching the Student Experience: Students will thrive in a stimulating atmosphere that fosters global involvement, community service, creative expression and personal growth.
-- Fostering Discovery and Creativity: Students and faculty members will come together within and across disciplines to pioneer new frontiers of knowledge.
-- Sustaining a Tradition of Quality: Students will continue to work and study with faculty whose scholarship is enhanced by continuing philanthropic support.
-- Building Faculty Strength and Capacity: Students will study with the finest teachers and researchers.
The campus' fundraising goal is the most ambitious total in campus history. Patrick and Mardelle Kopnicky, residents of Natrona Heights, Pa., are leading the campus committee charged with securing the $3 million in new support.
“Supporting Penn State New Kensington has been deeply rewarding for us, and we hope to encourage other friends of the campus to join us in making sure that it can continue to offer a wonderful educational experience to students from every economic background,” said Mardelle Kopnicky, who earned a bachelor of science degree from Penn State in 1964.
“This campaign is an incredible opportunity for Penn Staters to make a difference for future generations, and we are eager to connect with those who share our belief in the future of the New Kensington campus," said Patrick Kopnicky, a 1966 Penn State architecture alumnus.
"For the Future" marks Penn State's third capital campaign since the Campaign for Penn State began in 1984. That effort raised $352 million in six years to support a variety of academic initiatives. The Grand Destiny campaign, from 1996 to 2003, raised $1.37 billion. New Kensington surpassed its Grand Destiny goal of $1.8 million, and a majority of the funds were allocated for endowed scholarships, equipment and building projects.
The Office of Development at Penn State New Kensington works in partnership with alumni, students, faculty, staff, advisory board and the community to meet the fundraising goals set forth by the University while also working toward a greater awareness and appreciation for the New Kensington campus and its many economic and cultural contributions to the region.
CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS: PATRICK AND MARDELLE KOPNICKY
Patrick and Mardelle Kopnicky, residents of Natrona Heights, Pa., are leading the campus committee charged with securing $3 million in new support for the campus by June 2014.
The Kopnickys, who met as students at University Park, have been married for 44 years, and they are lifetime members of the Penn State Alumni Association. Their daughter, Aimee Kopnicky Marmol, earned her Penn State degree in premedicine in 1992. The couple is now retired. Patrick was principal architect for Kvaerner Metals in Pittsburgh, and Mardelle was owner of Kopnicky Nationwide Insurance in Brackenridge. Though neither attended Penn State New Kensington, they became involved with the Alle-Kiski Society, a regional chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association based at the campus, in the 1980s. Both served terms as president of the society.
"Through the Alle-Kiski Society, we found that Penn State New Kensington and its students, alumni, parents and staff are a very special family of individuals, and they remain as such to this day, " said Mardelle. The Kopnickys have offered their financial support as well as their time and energy to the campus, providing annual gifts to scholarships for many years and creating the Patrick and Mardelle Sacco Trustee Scholarship in 2008.
“We are proud to be able to offer scholarships to Penn State New Kensington students,” said Mardelle. “We see scholarship support as a way of honoring our parents who enabled us to attend Penn State. And in the Penn State tradition, by giving a gift that will keep on giving, we are investing in the future of our community.” The Kopnickys have served as leaders for a number of organizations in the region. Mardelle is the past president of the Allegheny Valley Chamber of Commerce and Allegheny Valley YMCA, and Patrick is the past president of the Council of Friends of Harrison Hills Park. In 1994, they were recognized for their community service by the Penn State Alumni Council.
The Kopnickys succeed Barbara Arnold and Robin Rarie as co-chairs of the campus campaign. Arnold and Rarie, both Penn State graduates and members of the campus advisory board, headed the two-year private phase of the campaign, which began in 2007.