We soared

We belong

Daniela Mata was done.

The first-year nursing major had returned to campus from Thanksgiving break. Instead of feeling revitalized, she felt homesick. The food was so  good. Being with her family felt so safe.

Back in Dayton, Chicago felt too far away.

So, she told her UD success coaches she planned to transfer. Beverly Jenkins ’78 and Kathleen Henderson ’86 listened. They offered her support.

“And then they gave me homework,” Mata said.

They sent her back to her room in Marycrest to write a list of the pros and cons of transferring.

Mata tried.

“I couldn’t find any pros,” she said of her two-column list. “It was just blank.”

And that’s when she remembered something she had felt when she first walked on campus — that she was already right where she belonged.

Belonging and success go hand-in-hand for this Flyer Promise Scholar. Flyer Promise, a major initiative of the campaign that makes a UD education possible, now includes 39 funds that support scholarships, programming, study abroad and services for high-achieving, first-generation college students. The program has already graduated 170 students.

Today, Mata is a junior, eager to start her nursing clinicals this fall. She feels ready, thanks to her coursework and personalized instruction from teachers like Kim Ritterhoff and campaign-funded tools such as the digital anatomy tables donated by Dave McCarthy ’71 and Norma Whitacre McCarthy ’71. A visual learner, Mata customizes the digital cadaver by color-coding organs — purple for the liver, pink for the bladder ­— and then applies that knowledge in the human cadaver lab with Ritterhoff’s guidance.

“She was able to take it slow with us and make sure that we knew what we were learning,” Mata said. “I really appreciate her for that.”

Throughout the campaign, donors gave most generously to hands-on learning, totaling $257 million. They supported student scholarships with $155 million and contributed $41 million to academic excellence and innovation, including endowed professorships. All of it adds up to one goal: helping students soar.

We shine

There is power in accomplishing things together.

“There’s nothing better than feeling part of a team,” said Deb Flanagan Tobias ’73, We Soar campaign chair and now chair for UD’s board of trustees. “And at Dayton, we’re all on a team.”

Part of that team includes students who helped envision the University’s first giving day in 2019. To date, 41,665 donors have given gifts of any size on giving day, held each April. 

Drew Moyer jumped in to help as philanthropy and special events chair for Students for University Advancement. His junior year, he split his first giving day gift between the communication department — his major — and three funds that support student development.

That includes mental health services — an important and personal focus for Moyer, who graduated in 2022. His first year on campus, his roommate died by suicide. Fast forward five years, post-graduation, and Moyer was again touched by suicide with the death of Will Woidat ’23, his friend and senior-year roommate.

“He was just a bright light to be around,” Moyer said of Woidat.

Moyer joined with Woidat’s family to start the Will Woidat Health and Wellness Memorial Fund. It supports mental health training and certification, among other programs in student development. The fund has more than $43,000 from 169 donors.

“The story of Flyers is about igniting passion, igniting purpose, and that is what sparks transformational gifts,” Moyer said.

Moyer is not only a donor but also a volunteer, leading the Columbus, Ohio, alumni community. It is in giving back that he feels most energized.

“I would not be the professional, the person you know — the son, the friend — I am today without the experiences that I had on UD’s campus,” he said, “and I want nothing more than for everybody who steps foot onto campus to have those same feelings.”

We become

Julie Myers has a front-row seat view of how University support translates into student success.

Both of her girls are Flyers. The first earned a degree in accounting and a minor in theater, a personal passion that turned into a leadership opportunity to direct the musical The Addams Family. Myers’ younger daughter began in education, then found her path elsewhere. Through connections in Dayton, she now volunteers for a political candidate and is exploring a career in public service.

“The difference that I appreciate as a parent is, at UD, it’s the education of the whole person,” Myers said. “It’s not just about the academics. It’s exposing the students to service, experiential learning. Seeing my daughters have those opportunities, I’ve really seen them grow and figure out who they are and what their vocation is.”

Myers sees the impact from another angle as the assistant CIO of enterprise solutions at UD, a mentor to women pursuing technology careers and a regular participant in the annual One Day, One Dayton giving day.

In 2025, she gave to a new fund started by her division. Pioneers of NextGen Technology and Innovation will support student experiential learning positions in UDit so they can learn from professionals in a variety of roles.

“When you look at a career in technology, there are so many different avenues you can go down,” Myers said, “and having that hands-on experience will help students understand what’s the right avenue for them.”

One Day, One Dayton gifts support everything from deans’ initiatives to the Water Ski Club. Annual giving programs encourage and educate the next generation of philanthropists, some of whom will grow into major donors.

We grow

More than 3,000 people volunteered for 4,063 roles during the campaign. Many of those had opportunities to move into greater areas of responsibility and impact as the campaign progressed.

Nancy Riedl ’91 is one of them. After graduating and moving to New York City, she joined the local alumni community.

“I’m a joiner by nature, and so, connecting with the alumni community here was a very natural first step,” she said. “I stayed connected because I continued to make friends through UD.”

She stepped up to assist in Christmas off Campus and eventually became the New York Metro community leader. She’s served on the alumni leadership board — twice; she’s currently president-elect and will start her three-year term in 2027.

She points back to her days as a UD Telefund caller as the start of it all.

“It just felt so natural to talk about UD,” said Riedl, who is chief development officer for a homeless services organization. “They may have gone to UD decades before me, but you know they were even more excited to reconnect and hear about campus.”

During the campaign, UD created new volunteer opportunities — for alumni, parents, faculty and staff — through the Black Alumni Executive Committee, Flyer Champions, Parent Leadership Council, Provost Advisory Council and more.

“What excites me most about UD has changed as my priorities have changed,” Riedl said. She initially sought a social connection. Her professional work brought greater awareness of the needs of under-resourced students, and she’s now donating to the Flyer Promise Scholars program.

“I find UD very hard to say no to, which is fine because I love the things I do for UD,” she said. “There are just a lot of opportunities for people to do good, to do well and to have fun.” 

HISTORY OF GENEROSITY

July 1, 2016
President Eric F. Spina becomes UD’s 19th president. The campaign begins, with the focus of supporting student access, experiential learning opportunities, and faculty and staff innovation and excellence.

September 2017
First gifts found Flyer Promise Scholars, to ensure access and support to under-resourced students. 

April 10, 2019
First giving day. One Day, One Dayton smashes its goal of 1,850 donors and attracts 5,638 gifts. 

February 2021
First gifts found Forever Marianist, a fund to ensure the Marianist mission, values and traditions remain a permanent part of UD.

April 19, 2023
UD kicks off the public phase of the We Soar campaign with a celebration at the Dayton Arcade, with goals for engagement, participation and philanthropy. 

Nov. 6, 2023
Engagement goal of 19,250 Front Porch Society members surpassed.

April 9, 2024
Giving day grows to 7,744 donors and, in just five years, quadruples giving day 2019 donations, at $3.6 million. 

June 10, 2024 
Philanthropy goal of $400 million surpassed.

Oct. 11, 2024
Participation goal of 2,800 new volunteers in defined roles surpassed.

June 30, 2025
We Soar campaign closes with record-setting success: 21,338 new Front Porch Society members; 3,064 new volunteers in defined roles; and $453.3 million.

July 1, 2025
Fundraising continues, with a focus on Flyer Promise; student health and wellbeing; Forever Marianist; and Flyer athletics. 

We answer

Chris Spitz ’74 understands firsthand about relying on others to succeed in college. As one of 14 children in his family — number five in line — money for college was scarce.

Out of all he applied to, UD offered the most financial aid and a work study program.

He also spent time volunteering to sell advertising for Flyer News.

“There was camaraderie among all the students working for Flyer News, because you’re all volunteers … you’re really enjoying it and you felt like you’re contributing to the success of something,” he said.

Spitz was the first in his family to graduate from college. After working in housing development and insurance, he remembered how much he had enjoyed his UD course Accounting for Arts and Sciences. To further his career, he went back to school, became a CPA and moved into real estate and development. In 2016, he sold his company, which developed office buildings in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Spitz visits campus regularly for reunions. During his 2024 trip as a Golden Flyer, he and his wife wandered over to the Roger Glass Center for the Arts and got a tour of the new Flyer News spaces. Spitz said he was impressed — a far cry from their crowded office in Kennedy Union where they would paste together ads for the next issue.  

In 1987, he answered a call from a Telefund student and made his first donation. Most recently, he’s given for 15 years straight, all unrestricted funds for the University to use in areas of greatest need. Throughout the campaign, donors gave $34.7 million to unrestricted funds.

UD eclipsed its campaign goal for new Front Porch Society members — a giving society for those making gifts three or more fiscal years in a row — finishing the We Soar campaign with 21,338.

As a member of the Front Porch Society, Spitz said he sees in today’s students his return on continual investment, an investment he understands firsthand.

We achieve

Bob Lowe sees student success every day. An associate professor of mechanical engineering, Lowe encourages students with bright minds and a thirst for learning to work on projects in his Behavior of Advanced Materials and Structures Laboratory. Currently, some of his students are investigating how geotextiles made from natural fibers could be superior to traditional polymer-based geotextiles used for shoreline stabilization and erosion control in certain uses. 

If that proves true, they will widely share the results to spur broader adoption.

“We aim to make a real, tangible impact on the environment,” Lowe said. 

Lowe represents the faculty excellence and innovation UD fundraised for during We Soar. One of his students, sophomore Kayden Rothery, experienced that impact firsthand as a Berry Summer Thesis Institute participant. She conducted research on a geotextile mat woven from coconut husk fibers used to prevent streambank erosion.

While collecting samples from along a creek in South Carolina in the sweltering heat, the civil engineering student wore long sleeves and tall boots to protect her from insects and snakes.

“I was nervous I wasn’t going to accomplish what I wanted to; I hold myself to a high standard,” she said. For example, she didn’t have enough knowledge to identify the plants growing up through the mat — a good sign the geotextile is doing its job. Instead, she had to learn to rely on the expertise of others.

“Through doing research in the field, I’ve learned a whole new side of problem solving,” she said. “I learned what it means to be an engineer, and I can bring that insight into my classes.”

And it gives professors like Lowe another avenue for student achievement.

“What I think I like best about working with students is being, maybe, some small part of the growth that happens during their time here at UD,” he said.

Campaign gifts from the Berry family made Rothery’s summer research happen. For her and so many other students, it also opened their horizons, moving possibilities into realities.

Over nine years, the We Soar campaign did the same for the University. It did so thanks to people coming together to bring the impact of a Marianist education to our world — while building that momentum for our future. Because of them, we’ll say — and not for the last time —

We soar.