The Flagship Agenda faces several obstacles before the University can achieve its goal of becoming a top-tier University.
One hurdle is dollar signs. Image is another. But University officials say its image is not the root of the problem, funding is. And the University can’t bring in more money without improving the its image.
Since the inception of the Flagship Agenda, yearly fundraising has increased by about $11 million, the endowment has grown by $54 million, more students have received national awards and, for the first time, nationwide advertisements about the University that are unrelated to athletics have aired.
But University officials say they have higher goals for the future including doubling the endowment, undertaking a capital campaign aimed at large-scale fundraising and focusing on receiving more national awards.
The University’s image and its fundraising are intertwined – the more money the University raises, the better its image and the better the University’s image, the more money it can raise.
“Everything we do relative to the capital campaign is to advance the Flagship Agenda,” said Michael Ruffner, vice chancellor for the Office of Communications and University Relations.
This semester the University embarked on a national image campaign, which focuses on the current “success” of the Flagship Agenda.
In February the University launched the “Welcome to the NOW” campaign as part of this image campaign.
And in June the University will embark on an unprecedented push for private funding with the new image campaign paving its way.
By completing Objectives Five and Six of the Flagship Agenda – which call for an increase in fundraising and national media attention – University officials hope to have the funds necessary to continue with the first four objectives.
Ruffner said raising money for the University will advance the goals of the various colleges on campus and further the Flagship Agenda at the same time.
“[The Flagship Agenda] is not free,” he said. “It costs money.”
 
Image Campaign
Objective Five of the Flagship Agenda promotes an increase in the amount of exposure the University receives in the media and in the number of students receiving national awards.
In February the Office of Public Affairs launched the “Welcome to the Now” campaign with much fanfare.
Ruffner said the “Now” campaign should not be confused with the image campaign because “Welcome to the Now” is a slogan accompanying a larger push to increase national recognition.
Ruffner said the image campaign has three goals: increasing recognition of teaching, research and service missions, increasing recruiting of “high caliber” students and faculty and encouraging donors to give money to the upcoming capital campaign.
Ruffner explained the campaign was more complicated and involved than just “Welcome to the Now” and “Evo Devo” T-shirts.
“‘Welcome to the Now’ is simply a rallying point – a slogan – to get people behind the campaign,” Ruffner said.
Ruffner pointed to advertisements in outlets such as Business Weekly and Continental Airlines’ in-flight magazine as examples of how the slogan is used.
Ruffner said the advertisements say “Welcome to the Now” in the bottom corner, but the dominant message is about programs at the University or opportunities for potential students.
“It’s not a silly slogan,” Ruffner said. “It’s putting hard facts in front of people across the country.”
But at a March 14 “Chat with the Chancellor,” Chancellor Sean O’Keefe joked with students about the Evo Devo campaign, poking fun at the slogan, though he explained that it was being pushed to market the University.
O’Keefe told students at the casual meeting that the marketing department “test drove” the campaign and was excited about the concept before it launched.
“But they didn’t test drive it far enough,” O’Keefe said.
Calder Lynch, business sophomore and Student Government senator, created a Facebook.com group mocking the “Evo Devo” campaign.
“I agree with the Chancellor that they didn’t test drive the campaign enough,” Lynch said. “The administration and public affairs is just not connecting with the students.”
Ruffner also defended local rock group The Terms and the “Evo Devo” song written about the University, which many students have mocked and criticized. Ruffner called The Terms a campus “success story” and said students should be proud of their peers who are thriving in the music industry instead of insulting the group.
Ruffner said being the only university with a band and song is a “pretty cool” distinction.
But the “essence” of the increased publicity and presence in the media, Ruffner said, can be found in “LSU in the Eye of the Storm,” the book the University printed chronicling its response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Kristine Calongne, director of media relations for the Office of Public Affairs, said there has been an increase in media requests to interview University professors, which she said can be attributed to the University’s increase in popularity after the hurricanes.
In addition to encouraging professors to speak publicly about the topics they study, the University created an administrative position this past spring to nominate students for prestigious national awards.
Former Rhodes Scholar Drew Lamonica Arms works in the Honors College to aid students who are applying or are nominated for awards.
The idea of “institutionalizing” the application process is new to the University, she said, and students were previously on their own to apply for scholarships.
Allen Richey was the first University student to win the Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 2003, Jacob Landry, political communication and poultry science senior, won the prestigious award this past year and this year Arms helped two students become finalists for the award.
CC Dubois, agricultural business and political science junior who received help from Arms, was announced on Tuesday as a Truman Scholar.
This year, for the first time, three students received the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, which is given to undergraduates interested in science, math or engineering.
Katherine Faust, biological sciences sophomore, Nickolas VanMeter, physics and math sophomore, and Jacquelyn Zimmerman, biological sciences junior, received the scholarship.
The University’s recipients matched the number at both Arkansas State and Yale University and topped Harvard University and the University of Michigan, which each had two.
Ruffner said by increasing exposure and explaining the Flagship Agenda through the image campaign, the effort will “prepare and invigorate” donors to give money.
“We can’t raise money until we articulate what we stand for,” Ruffner said. “The state can’t afford this expansion, so we have to get private funds. Part of getting the funds is raising your visibility and prestige.”
 
Capital campaign and private funds
In June, the University will launch a capital campaign in New York City as part of the Flagship Agenda’s goal to increase private funding by the year 2010.
Scott Madere, LSU Foundation director of public relations, said the University has begun planning for the campaign, but organizers have not set specific monetary goals.
An independent firm has been commissioned to determine a reasonable but adequate goal based on the needs of the University, Madere said.
“LSU A&M is going to determine the magnitude of the campaign based on a complete set of goals articulated by all the academic units,” Ruffner said.
Madere said the money will be used for a variety of projects – professorships, student scholarships, lab funds, the endowment and projects each dean has requested.
Madere said the bulk of the money will come from two different types of companies. Some targeted donors are businesses that hire University graduates. The remainder will be corporations owned or run by alumni.
Madere said the company and the foundation will talk about how the money can be beneficial for both parties, before discussing donations.
However, this campaign will be different from past campaigns, Madere said, because an effort is being made to reach all alumni, not just the most successful ones.
“The thing LSU has going for it is LSU has a large number of graduates who graduate from LSU and love LSU,” Madere said. “It’s that strong sense of LSU spirit that is going to be a critical factor in the campaign.”
Madere said the primary goal of the LSU Foundation, which will work on the academic side of the campaign, is to double the endowment, which is presently $262 million.
The endowment is a large sum of money used to acquire interest instead of being spent. The interest is then used for specific purposes such as professorships, scholarships and programs.
But this past year the National Association of College and University Business Officers ranked the University’s endowment 110th in the nation.
Madere said members of the LSU Foundation hope to aid in obtaining the goals of the individual colleges as part of the endowment increase and raising of other funds.
Ron Ross, dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts, wrote in an e-mail that the college’s top priorities include $30 million in improvements, which range from funding a music pavilion and organ hall, building a new band hall, renovating the Reilly Theater, increasing the number of graduate assistants and student scholarships and creating an opera endowment fund and a Swine Palace endowment fund.
“Raising the $30 million listed above would transform programs that already have national reputations into real performing-arts powerhouses,” Ross said.
The campaign will combine efforts by the LSU Foundation, the Alumni Association and the Tiger Athletic Foundation, the three fundraising entities of the University.
Charlie Roberts, president and CEO of the Alumni Association, said the association is contributing by identifying and providing contact information for alumni across the country.
Roberts said identifying alumni working for major corporations helps in corporate fundraising because some will match their employees’ donations to their alma mater, 3-to-1.
When the campaign begins, Roberts said, the Alumni Association will help sponsor receptions in cities where alumni chapters exist.
TAF will also bring traditional sports donors to the table when the campaign begins, said Danny Aguirre, executive director of development and public relations for TAF.
TAF has changed its yearly “Spring Tour” to the “LSU Tiger Tour,” a program that takes football coach Les Miles to cities where there are large alumni associations.
This year the program will include O’Keefe, the LSU Foundation and the Alumni Association. Their talks will focus more on fundraising for the University than in years past, Aguirre said.
Aguirre said athletics are appealing to donors because of the high profile athletics have and because of academic accomplishments such as the academic center.
“Athletics is a window to the University,” Aguirre said. “Use athletics as a vehicle to get your message out.”
As the University continues to sprint toward the finish line of the Flagship Agenda, money and image are becoming integral parts of its goals.
“The whole thing is cyclical,” Ruffner said. “They keep feeding off of each other.”
 
 
Contact Ginger Gibson at [email protected]