The Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences announced a new $750 million fundraising initiative Saturday night.

Launched · USC trustees and Dornsife College Board of Councilors attended the announcement of the $750 million campaign Saturday night. – Joseph Chen | Daily Trojan

The new campaign, the largest individual campaign that Dornsife has ever undertaken, was announced at a special dinner held in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. The dinner not only marked the official launch of the campaign but also celebrated the second anniversary of Dana and David Dornsife’s $200 million naming gift to the college. Alumni, trustees, the Board of Councilors and friends of Dornsife joined in the celebration dinner as a thank you for their past investments and to inspire others to contribute to the campaign.

Since the September 2011 launch of the $6 billion schoolwide endowment campaign, some of the professional schools have launched their own campaigns. Each school’s contributions will contribute toward the $6 billion goal.

Senior Associate Dean for Advancement at Dornsife and a 1981 graduate Neil Macready said this event and the monetary contribution will allow the college to progress further.

“Ultimately, this campaign will help us create the first truly modern university,” Macready said.

The $750 million initiative will support need-based and merit-based scholarships and fellowships for both undergraduate and graduate students, new faculty appointments and a strategic innovation fund. In addition, the campaign will fund a number of existing university programs, including the Joint Education Project, international travel programs, research opportunities and internships. The funds will even allow some programs to be permanently endowed.

Macready is optimistic about the benefits the campaign will give both current and future Dornsife students.

“It gives us the opportunity to provide more scholarship support to our students and also allows them to broaden their experiences outside the classroom,” Macready said.

The initiative will also go toward recruitment of new faculty members as well as the implementation of a strategic innovation fund, which will help the university maintain its cutting-edge research. The initiative will allow Dornsife Dean Steve Kay to fund projects that would otherwise go unexplored.

“If there is a new area of research across the college where we don’t have the resources on hand to fund some groundbreaking research by faculty, having a strategic innovation fund will give us the flexibility to invest in that kind of program,” Macready said.