David Stevens(left) with David Arneke(right)

Wachovia Bank is the largest corporate donor to date to the Students First Campaign, with three gifts totaling $1.2 million. David Arneke, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, presented David Stevens, Regional President of Wachovia, with a plaque depicting the Foust Building. The image was taken from a painting by Nathanial Underwood, MFA '06.

Wachovia's gift continues the company's long tradition of support for higher education. The three projects funded are in different areas of the University. The largest gift ($720,000) established a three-year program to train a network of experienced public school teachers as mentors for novice teachers. To date, 140 mentors have been trained in 10 school districts across the Piedmont Triad. A gift of $250,000 supported equipment for the new science building, where two lecture halls are named for Wachovia. In the Bryan School of Business and Economics, the bank established an endowment of $250,000 to fund graduate fellowships in the fields of economics and information systems.

As the Student First Campaign enters the home stretch, it has received nearly 100 major gifts from corporations and foundations, totaling more than $12.4 million. The campaign will end June 30, 2009. To date, it has raised a total of more than $91 million toward its goal of $100 million.