FAU has a rich history of philanthropy, the commitment to improving the community by people who have benefited most by their place in it. The idea of giving money to a worthy cause or to a program you believe in is an age old practice. Laboratories, buildings, and even whole universities bear the names of their donors. Give money, help a cause, and leave your mark on it in the process – benefits all around.

Donations to FAU have paid for scholarships, built new buildings – such as the biological science building and Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center – and financed plans for a new medical school.

And the giving continued at a noteworthy pace this year.

FAU’s top five donations and grants of 2004-2005 totaled nearly 10 million dollars. The programs created by this year’s donations are about as diverse as the many sources from which they came, which included the government, individuals, foundations and businesses.

The largest of these gifts was a seven million dollar award from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a Center for Intermodal Transportation Safety and Security (CITSS), which will use the collaborative resources of Florida public universities to address various issues related to transportation gridlock and terrorism prevention.

FAU is the lead university for the comprehensive center with seven other universities participating in the endeavor.

“FAU is excited to take the lead on this Center, which will serve as a national model for transportation providers,” said Dr. Larry Lemanski, vice president for research and graduate studies at FAU.

The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letter’s Department of history and the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing each received one million dollars from family donors.

The Larkin family gift, made in honor of the late Alan B. Larkin, will support the University in advancing and enhancing the study of the American Presidency in FAU’s Department of History.

“Alan had a lifelong love of history…and enjoyed mentoring young people,” said Mrs. Larkin. “This gift presents the community with an opportunity to learn about America’s past.”

Specifically, the money from this fund will create supporting graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships for students interested in the American Presidency and will support an annual symposium, called the Alan B. Larkin Symposium of the American Presidency. Being held each spring semester beginning in 2007, the symposium will give up to three distinguished scholars a year the opportunity to present papers that may be contributed to books, scholarly journals, essays and other publications.

Besides being “absolutely overwhelmed and humbled” by the donation, the department of history has high hopes for the symposium said Stephen Engle, chair of FAU’s department of history.

“Beyond establishing fellowships for students studying history…we have every expectation that the symposium will become the central event in the study of the American presidency in the historical field, attracting and featuring the nation’s foremost authorities on the American presidency,” said Engle.

The College of Nursing’s gift, donated by the Dodson Family Foundation, will establish an endowment fund called the Libby Dodson Endowment for Nursing Excellence-named in honor of Elizabeth “Libby” Dodson, a Boca Raton nurse and philanthropist. This fund will help support the advancement of nursing as a discipline and profession at FAU.

“We are so fortunate that our college of nursing will benefit from the Dodson family’s generosity,” said Ann Paton, vice president for University Advancement. “Mrs. Dodson is helping the College of Nursing as it continues to build its reputation as one of the nations most prominent nursing programs.”

“What a privilege it is to have an endowment focused on advancing this profession,” adds Dr. Anne Boykin, dean of the Christine E. College of Nursing. “We are grateful for this most generous gift which will support nursing excellence.

Through the state’s matching gift program each of these two donations will qualify for a 75-percent match, bringing them to 1.75 million each.

The last of the top five were two $100,000 donations made this April by the Quantum Foundation of West Palm Beach and BankAtlantic.

Quantam’s primary gift of $100,000 inspired a smaller donation from Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach and a pledge of future support from JFK Medical Center. Through this collaboration of organizations FAU was able to acquire a “Harvey” patient simulator-a virtual reality approach to cardiac diagnosis and care that has become the mainstay for medial and heath science programs throughout the US and the UK. The new “Harvey” system, which is programmed to replicate 27 real life scenarios that students have to diagnose, will help FAU students to enter the medical field well-prepared for emergency episodes.

Med students will not be the only ones to benefit from the new “Harvey.” Many different colleges within FAU will benefit-nurses and student nurses from the college of nursing, exercise and health promotion majors in the college of education, psychologists and anthropologists in the College of Arts and Letters-as well as community organizations dealing with cases of cardiac health.

It was the “transdisciplinary” nature of the program that drove Timothy Henderson, vice president for programs at the Quantum Foundation, to set FAU’s “Harvey” program in motion. Part of the gift will be used to build and staff a patient simulation center in the Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center.

BankAtlantic’s check was given to help meet FAU’s “greatest needs.”

“We are delighted to support FAU in its work educating students of all ages,” said BankAtlantic CEO Alan Levan. “As we renew this partnership, we recognize FAU for all its accomplishments and gladly reinvest in its future.”

BankAtlantic has been a supporter of FAU athletics and scholarship programs since 1997, and has a strong presence on the Boca campus, including a full-service facility, and ATMs on FAU’s Jupiter and Davie campuses.

“BankAtlantic has been very gracious in helping FAU get to the next level,” said FAU President Frank Brogan.

So next time you see a name on a building or a plaque on your microscope stop a minute and think about the many people and organizations that have invested in the students of FAU and enabled the university to reach new heights, transforming the capable into the excellent.