By Melissa Crytzer Fry

Students and alumni in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering are intimately familiar with numbers. Most spend the majority of their careers interacting with figures - bioengineers using computer algorithms to study genetic structure, and electrical engineers analyzing circuitry.

Engineering alumni now have the opportunity to affect numbers of a different nature.

A challenge initiated by Ira Fulton in July 2004 is calling alumni to make a difference in the future of their school. For every dollar an alumnus of the School of Engineering contributes up until June 30, 2005, Fulton will match it dollar for dollar - and for alumni who have never given or haven’t given in the past five years, he’ll match their gifts two to one.

Over this fiscal year, Fulton will match gifts of all sizes — up to $5,000 — including contributions from engineering students and faculty. As an added incentive, ASU Alumni Association memberships that are purchased by engineering alumni also will be matched dollar for dollar.

Fulton, a Tempe native who attended ASU on a football scholarship, is the founder of Fulton Homes, one of the Valley’s most prolific home-builders. “You can’t have a great state without a great education system,” he says.

Mathematically speaking, an alumnus who has never contributed philanthropically, but gives a $200 gift can increase that contribution to $800 instantaneously. With Fulton’s $400 match, the gift grows to $600, and with a corporate matching gift, the contribution can have an $800 impact.

“ It’s not how much you give,” stresses Fulton, who is motivated by an unwavering passion for education. “Getting people in the spirit of giving is what’s most important.”

Fulton provided one of the largest gifts in ASU history in 2003 when he earmarked $50 million to endow the School of Engineering. He admits that he’ll do what it takes to make the school the best it can be. “Sure, I’m trying to bribe people to match me,” he admits. “It’s time for them to step up and support their university.”

And that’s exactly what is happening.

Since the challenge was issued, more than 950 alumni have contributed, raising nearly $300,000 in the first four months of the challenge — the same amount raised from engineering alumni in all of 2003. With Fulton’s match, that figure will more than double. In direct response to the challenge, six new scholarship/fellowship endowments have been established and six additional endowments have grown considerably — some nearly double in size.

Now listed among the Top 50 engineering graduate programs in the nation in U.S. News and World Report, the engineering school has the opportunity to move into the Top 25. An improved student-to-faculty ratio, the addition of high-caliber faculty, and alumni giving participation favorably impact rankings. The Fulton Challenge will have a significant effect in this area, as well.

“ We won’t stop at one,” says Fulton, indicating that he plans to offer similar challenges to other colleges at ASU in the future.

Fulton and his wife Mary Lou (Henson), a graduate of the College of Education, are the most generous donors in ASU history. They established a $5 million endowed chair in early reading development and reading remediation for the College of Education. In November, they announced a $3 million gift for ASU’s Decision Theater for the New Arizona, in which researchers will use computer visualization techniques to test the outcomes of policy decisions on such topics as urban growth and water usage.

“ I want to be an example to people who think they can take it with them,” says Fulton. “I want to help them understand the fun of helping other people.”

Melissa Crytzer Fry is a Phoenix-based freelance writer.

TAKE THE FULTON CHALLENGE!
Interested in building a better engineering school? Engineering alumni may visit www.fulton.asu.edu/fulton/challenge for details on how to donate online.

All alumni interested in joining the alumni association can go online at https://www.alumniconnections.com/member/asu/

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