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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 8 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 7 Continued on page 48 Olian cut her fundraising teeth by raising $450 million for UCLA's business school. Her goal for QU's $550 million endowment? 'More,' she says simply. greater diversity. What's the fifth bucket? Lastly, how do we forge a fulfill- ing relationship for life with our graduates, starting with the first job? It's about employment and career development. But it's also about being the learning partner of choice for adult populations that have to keep coming back and learning, whether it's our alumni or others. What we learned 20 or 10 or even five years ago is not good enough for what [the marketplace requires] today. We need to have channels where people can come back and learn in a convenient manner, we need to have adult-learning programs, and we need to stay connected as a teaching institution of choice or as a knowledge partner through various online and residential [channels]. And lastly, we want our alumni to be forever proud of us and engaged with the institution — in activities, with our students and philanthrop- ically. The bottom line of a university president's job has to be, literally, the bottom line. How healthy is QU financially? Financially we're in a strong posi- tion. We continue to reinvest every year in our programs and facilities. We're growing our endowment; our endowment is now $550 million. We have a very strong and steady pool of student applicants. As long as we continue to offer cutting-edge programs in an environment that's not just supportive and protective of students but enabling them to thrive, I'm very excited and bullish about the future of Quinnipiac. That endowment was just $3 million when your predecessor assumed office 30 years ago; now it's $550 million. How do you foster and con- tinue to grow that culture of giving, especially among alumni? Philanthropy is essential for the growth and quality of high- Judy Olian President, Quinnipiac University er education. ere isn't a more important social good than education — especially when the world is transforming so quickly and the skill sets needed to address those needs is changing so rapidly. In my convocation address I said that education was a fundamental human right that we need to make available to everyone. Philanthropy is essential to enabling that access and to providing the quality of learning and teaching that prepares our students to be enlightened citizens for the evolving careers of the 21st century. If the endowment today is $550 mil- lion, you must have a number in your mind of what you would like it to be when your job here is done. My magic number is more. $550 million sounds like a lot of money, but it is paltry compared to a number of peer institutions. My view is that donors give for two main reasons: One is that there is strategic clarity and coherence about what institution aspires to. What do we want to be — and what do we need in order to be that? Ob- viously, financial aid is a huge piece of what we need in order to provide more access to the institution. e

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