UF Law Completes Record $4.5 Million Fundraising Initiative
More than 1,400 alumni and friends of the University of Florida Levin College of Law contributed $1.5 million to meet the Culverhouse Challenge, an initiative to unlock two $1.5 million matching donations. In total, more than $4.5 million will directly support students through scholarships, helping UF Law attract the very best and brightest students from around the world.
“The entire UF Law community – alumni, students, faculty, and friends – rose to the challenge, and future generations of UF Law students will be better for it,” said Laura A. Rosenbury, Dean and Levin, Mabie and Levin Professor of Law. “We could not have done this without Hugh Culverhouse, whose passion for UF Law galvanized this effort and inspired so many Gators to support our students.”
Hugh Culverhouse (JD 74) initiated the Culverhouse Challenge after UF Law’s historic rise in the U.S. News & World Report rankings from 48 to 41. He promised $1.5 million for incoming student scholarships if, and only if, the UF community gave an additional $1.5 million by the first day of classes on August 14, 2017. In June, UF Provost Joe Glover raised the stakes by providing an additional $1.5 million contribution if UF Law met the original goal, totaling a possible $4.5 million – all for student scholarships.
“In meeting this challenge, we have made it clear that nothing will hold UF Law back from reaching national preeminence,” Culverhouse said. “This is only the beginning.”
Student scholarships are pivotal in achieving two of UF Law’s most important goals: (1) to provide access to legal education to high quality students, regardless of financial circumstance, and (2) to outcompete the best law schools in the country in attracting a diverse student body with extraordinary credentials.
Throughout the summer, Dean Rosenbury and members of the UF Law team traveled across Florida and up the East Coast, including to Jacksonville, Tampa, New York City, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington, D.C., and Miami, to engage with hundreds of alumni, students and prospective students about the future of UF Law.
“The strength of the country’s greatest alumni base powered us through this challenge – and it will continue to fuel our rise,” Dean Rosenbury said. “With the generous support of our alumni, we will become a top ten public law school.”
*For interviews with Dean Rosenbury or Mr. Culverhouse, please contact Whitney Smith, Assistant Dean for Messaging & Outreach, at smithw@law.ufl.edu or 352-273-0652*