The Henry Vogt Foundation and its president, Henry V. Heuser Jr., have given $3 million; other donors have pooled their gifts to match it.
鈥淲e are especially thrilled about these gifts because they directly impact our students,鈥 said UofL President James Ramsey. 聽鈥淲e鈥檒l be targeting more donations for scholarships in the stretch run of our comprehensive campaign.鈥
UofL鈥檚 Hallmark scholars program will be renamed the Henry Vogt Scholarships in honor of the Vogt gift. Kentucky students who have a 3.75 GPA in high school and score at least a 30 on the ACT or 1320 on the SAT are eligible to apply for the awards, which include full tuition and an annual $3,500 educational allowance.
鈥淗elping young people get an education is the best investment we can make to improve our community,鈥 Heuser said.
UofL also announced that the 鈥溾 campaign has passed its original $750 million goal. The total to date is $755,337,793, Ramsey said.
The campaign began in 2007 with the intent to reach its goal by July, 2013. Two years ago, however, the university鈥檚 Board of Trustees decided to push the goal to $1 billion and extend the campaign to July, 2014.
Also on Tuesday, UofL officials announced that two additional co-chairs have been added to the campaign: Ulysses Lee 鈥淛unior鈥 Bridgeman and Charles 鈥淐huck鈥 Denny. Both are UofL graduates. A former UofL basketball player, Bridgeman is founder and president of Bridgeman Foods LLC. 聽Denny is regional president of Kentucky/Tennessee banking of PNC Bank.
J. Chester Porter, founder and chairman emeritus of Porter Bancorp, is the chairman emeritus for the campaign. Heuser also is a campaign co-chair as was Owsley Brown Frazier, who died in August.