Alumni and Friends Making an Impact

The University of Dayton is a lot like a city — a city with the sacred purpose of preparing Flyers to learn, lead and serve for life.

We maintain a police force, a health clinic, over 400 residential properties, buildings, restaurants … it’s a highly complex civic ecosystem built for faith and the future of all Flyers. And we’re proud that our work and our community are recognized every year: The Princeton Review ranks UD as the No. 5 “Best-Run Colleges.”

Darlene Weaver, UD’s new provost and executive vice president for academic affairs is deeply familiar with well-run universities. She brought with her 25 years of experience in Catholic higher education at Georgetown, Villanova and Duquesne.

“From our first-year professors to President Spina, I see a confluence of expertise, empathy and enthusiasm focused on the success of all of our students, whatever their needs are,” said Weaver. “I believe there are similar forces at work when our alumni and friends make a gift to the UD Fund … they are trusting us to use those gifts where they can have the greatest impact.”

At our core, this University simply wants all of our students to achieve their dreams, but there is rarely anything simple about the journey. Remember the pandemic? What happens when you see a student struggling to negotiate classes and work and the pandemic without a functioning computer?

At a lot of schools, the answer might be to suggest a semester off to earn money. Maybe it takes two semesters. Maybe they never return to finish their degree. 

At UD, we find a way to keep our students on the path to graduation. And it’s not too surprising that the path along the way often crosses the UD Fund, just like it did for Odyssey Oehme ’24.

The UD Fund (and the VP and Deans Funds for Excellence) are the unrestricted funds that light the path forward for so many at UD. And, although general funds are often pigeonholed as operating budgets, unrestricted funds are critical in allowing the University to meet its most pressing needs, whether that means an emergency repair to a facility, a computer for a student in need or, yes, light bulbs.

The next time you’re giving back to UD, think about everything you want UD to be. It’s great to give for a specific purpose, but it is also important to think about the complete path that students journey as they are preparing to learn, lead and serve for life.

“We strive to ensure all of our students’ needs are met, and the UD Fund is there to help,” said Weaver. “It also does a lot more; providing the ability to seize unplanned opportunities — for our students and professors — can be just as critical for our continued success as offering support to recover from unexpected events. The UD Fund gives us the flexibility to do both.”