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Campaign Success – Alumni challenge moves SAF closer to $8 million goal
November 4th, 2010
Written by: Kelly Millar - Recruitment Assistant and Webmaster
As challenging economic times continue, the need for strong financial leaders is paramount. At The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) we are educating such visionaries. These are the men and women who will one day make significant decisions that will affect our world economy.
For close to 30 years, the School has been cultivating professionally engaged students who are fully connected and committed to their chosen fields within accounting and finance. We also produce the largest number of accounting professors in the nation, through our prestigious PhD program.
Capitalizing on past successes we continue to move forward towards our vision of greatness. In less than two years, we will double our output of young professionals, providing more than 375 new graduates per year and will employ 20 new faculty members. We have also developed a new Learning Model, designed to deliver what our graduates need to succeed in today’s working world.
Not only will the School be known for having the strongest, largest, and most respected accounting program in the country, but it will also be recognized for its uniquely integrated curriculum of accounting and finance.
The pressure of rising costs and decreased government support; however, has created a greater demand for private funding. The significance of this is twofold.
First, financial backing helps us maintain our Faculty Fellowship and Student Fellowship programs. These programs help the School recruit and retain outstanding faculty and reward their contributions to the Schools strategic priorities, and provide students with scholarship opportunities, professional development, and recognition of our undergraduate students and alumni who exemplify the spirit of SAF. Secondly, it helps us enhance our programs, ensuring we provide our students with the technical, analytical, and evaluative expertise that will enable them to boost Canada’s reputation as a key global financial player.
In 2008, we called upon our valued alumni to help increase our private funding by implementing an $8 million campaign goal by 2012. Without hesitation, our team of alumni volunteers approached their peers and the accounting profession for support. To date, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, ICAO, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have openly accepted this challenge, raising $2.5 million this year for a grand total of $5 million since ‘08.
“The accounting profession has once again answered the call to support accounting and finance education in Canada through gifts to the SAF campaign. With this kind of momentum, we are sure to reach our $8 million goal by 2012. We thank our partners in the profession for their continued leadership and generosity.” – Mike Garvey, Campaign Chair, School of Accounting and Finance
The amount of support received over the years clearly demonstrates the impact our alumni have on the world of accounting and finance. They are the reason our School is held in the highest regard. With continued support, we will not only reach our campaign goal, but we will also build upon our solid reputation as the leading provider of Canada’s top business talent.
