The first woman ever to head the University’s main private fund-raising organization was elected Oct. 26 at a University of Minnesota Foundation trustee’s meeting.
Luella Gross Goldberg, the former acting president of Wellesley College, was named by the trustees as chairwoman of the foundation that supports University teaching, research and scholarship programs.
“Needless to say, I’m honored and looking forward to it,” Goldberg said.
The two-year appointment comes following the second-best fund-raising year in the foundation’s history. The $72 million raised in 1996 is down slightly from last year’s record $72.5 million sum, which included a record $13 million bequest to the School of Pharmacy.
Goldberg said her experience at Wellesley and the University qualified her for the job.
“I bring an understanding of educational institutions and great loyalty to the University,” she said.
Goldberg, who replaces Norwest Bank executive Jim Campbell as chair, has served as a member of the foundation’s 43-member board of trustees since 1975.
She also sits on the Board of Overseers of the University’s Carlson School of Management and serves on the advisory board of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
As a result of the new gifts and a high yield on investments last year the foundation’s endowment rose 23 percent to $429 million, an all-time high.
The nonprofit foundation receives and manages donations according to donor specifications, said Linda Berg, foundation vice president of communications and donor relations.
Most donations come from corporations and organizations, according to foundation reports, and are directed towards supporting academic programs and scholarships.
Since its inception in 1962, the foundation has helped raise more than $1.6 billion for the University.
Last year, Berg said, donors directed $18.4 million to the Medical School and $5.2 million to the Carlson School of Management and the Institute of Technology.
More than $14 million was directed towards scholarship last year and a total of 71 new scholarship endowments were created.
Goldberg also serves on the boards of directors of Hormel Foods, Reliastar, TCF Financial and Piper Funds.
Louis Gross, Goldberg’s father, was among the foundation’s original trustees. He served from 1962 to 1973.
Serving with Goldberg as executive officers of the trustees for the 1996-97 term are Treasurer Diana E. Murphy, a U.S. circuit judge; Secretary Stanley S. Hubbard, chairman of Hubbard Broadcasting Inc.; and Gerald B. Fischer, who was re-elected as president and chief executive officer of the foundation.
University Regent H. Bryan Neel, a surgeon and educator at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was elected to a three-year term as a trustee at the Oct. 26 meeting.
Among Goldberg’s and Neel’s colleagues on the board of trustees are Board of Regents Chairman Tom Reagan and regents Wendell Anderson and Stanley Sahlstrom. The trustees meet quarterly.