The Future of the Friends of Rutgers English
 

Table of Contents

Fall/ Winter 03

 

The Future of the Friends of Rutgers English

We're extremely grateful for all the support we've received from alumni and friends over the years, support that has allowed our Department to do everything from building the new Plangere Writing Center to awarding the best undergraduate essay each year with the Irving D. Blum Prize. But we want to be able to do more.

We want to keep you informed about exciting developments within the Department, about our successes, and about the challenges we face. We want to invite you to participate in Department-sponsored events, to stay in touch with us and each other through a Friends network, to share your experience and your advice with a young English major wondering what comes next.

And because our Department's primary mission is to read and think about and write about texts, we want to continue to share that excitement with you. We imagine literary events, a "Poem-of-the-Month" club, online discussion forums, special seminars for Friends, a vast bibliography and book club celebrating the work of Rutgers English alumni.

Like many book-readers, our imagination gets ahead of us. What we need for now is to build, person by person, the roster of interested Friends, and to hear more about what you imagine for our future. So please sign up on our Website: http://english.rutgers.edu/FoRE/.

Supporting Friends

Rutgers University receives approximately one-third of its budget from New Jersey state appropriations, and 23 percent from student tuition and fees. Only generous gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations can maintain the status of Rutgers as one of the top public universities in the nation.

If you've been following the news about Rutgers, you know that for the last several years, budget cuts have been severe. Because the English Department serves so many students and runs so many different programs, we make good use of every last dollar. Ironically, the operating efficiency of humanities disciplines makes them particularly vulnerable to budget cuts, and small amounts of money can make a big difference.

The English Department needs and appreciates your support. Gifts made to the Department help us to:

  • Develop new curricular programs and research opportunities for undergraduates

  • Fund fellowships, TAs, and RAs in our highly ranked Graduate Department

  • Support faculty research projects

  • Host literature-related events like the Writers at Rutgers series

  • Create endowments for ongoing centers, projects, or Chaired Professorships

  • Make improvements to Murray Hall, including upgrading computers, refurbishing classrooms, and renovating seminar rooms

You can make a tax-deductible gift to the Department of English in two ways:

If you'd like more information about ways to support the Friends of Rutgers English, or would like to set up a designated use for your gift, give us a call at 732-932-7612, or write us at FOR.English@rutgers.edu.

   
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