In July 2019, the University of Vermont launched two ambitious fundraising campaigns with a clear and complementary purpose: to support students and to strengthen research. Rather than presenting a single campaign identity, UVM created two distinct pathways for impact.
SOAR, the Campaign for Student Success, focused on expanding access and support through student scholarships and enriching student experiences through internships, student activities, athletics, and more. SOLVE, the Campaign for Breakthrough Research, directed support toward the faculty, research, and programs that shape discovery and innovation at UVM.
Now, after six years and the extraordinary support of more than 50,000 donors, the campaigns have reached the combined goal of $350 million.
What Was SOAR?
SOAR invited donors to lift students up. It prioritized access to a UVM education and the experiences that shape a student’s journey, from scholarships and internships to clubs, and athletics.
SOAR Campaign Highlights
Total raised: $150 million
Donors: 38,500
New scholarship funds created: 250
Every dollar committed to SOAR helped reduce financial barriers and create richer, fuller student experiences. In a time when higher education faces increasing pressure to demonstrate value and accessibility, these investments are already shaping lives.
What Was SOLVE?
Where SOAR championed students, SOLVE strengthened the academic core that supports them. Donors to SOLVE invested in faculty, research, and programs with the power to improve lives in Vermont and beyond.
SOLVE Campaign Highlights
Total Raised: $202 million
Donors: 14,500
New endowed professorships created: 20
These gifts built long-term capacity: recruiting and retaining world-class faculty, expanding research across disciplines, and fueling innovation in areas like rural healthcare, agroecology, water resources, and sustainability, to name a few.
Donors at the Center
The generosity at the heart of SOAR and SOLVE was as diverse as the UVM community itself.
Alumni, families, faculty, staff, and friends gave generously, whether in the form of transformative gifts or annual donations to an area they love on campus. Collectively, their support reflected shared values: access to education, commitment to research, and belief in the university’s role to advance the public good.
Some gave to honor a professor or family legacy. Others gave to help future students navigate the same path they once walked. Many gave simply because they believed in UVM’s mission and momentum.
No matter the amount, every gift became part of something larger.
Momentum That Continues
With both campaigns now complete, their legacies are just beginning. Students are attending UVM today thanks to scholarship funds created through SOAR. Faculty are teaching, mentoring, and exploring new frontiers of research, empowered by support from SOLVE. Programs seeded by these campaigns will continue to grow in impact for years to come.
Importantly, this moment is not a finish line.
It’s a reflection point.
A chance to honor what’s been made possible and to look ahead to what’s next.
The conclusion of SOAR and SOLVE doesn’t mark an end to the needs they addressed. Students will still need support to access life-changing opportunities. Faculty will still rely on philanthropic investment to pursue big questions and train the next generation of leaders.
But thanks to the vision and generosity of more than 50,000 donors, UVM is better equipped to meet those needs.
"The SOAR and SOLVE campaigns were about creating opportunities for the students, faculty, and staff in our community - and how much more we can accomplish when we work together. Our donors responded to this with deep-felt generosity, and I couldn’t be more thankful to them for making these campaigns successful," says Kathleen Kelleher, Interim President and CEO of the UVM Foundation.
To every donor who gave: thank you.
Your gift didn’t just support a campaign. It supported a student. A classroom. A question. A future. And the impact of that choice will be felt for generations.
Stories of Impact: SOAR Campaign
Ginger Larsen ’28: Seizing Opportunity
Ginger Larsen hadn’t planned on attending college in Vermont. Growing up in Texas, UVM wasn’t on her radar until a friend encouraged her to visit. A rainy spring tour turned into a life-changing decision - one made possible by scholarships that closed a critical financial gap.
Ginger received the call about additional aid during class: "It showed up on my phone: UVM Financial Aid. I ran out of the room. They told me I had been awarded more scholarships than I originally expected. That moment changed everything."
She made the most of her first year at UVM. Ginger had to the opportunity to explore sustainability practices in Iceland through UVM GO; dance with the student club, UVM Dance Force; and join the sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. Looking ahead, she plans to pursue a career in pediatric or oncology medicine.
Ginger shares her story not just out of gratitude, but as a voice for thousands of students whose UVM experience depends on donor support. "Giving to scholarships impacts so many people’s lives. For me personally, it was the reason I could choose UVM. Your generosity is something I think of and am thankful for every day."
Ignat Incentive Scholars: Investing in Vermont's Future Physicians
In 2022, David and Eleanor Ignat created a scholarship at the Larner College of Medicine to encourage future physicians to remain in Vermont after graduation. The inaugural recipients - including Liz Kelley ’25 and Jessie Lucas ’25 - expressed deep appreciation for the support.
“It changes my perspective on what I need to do after residency and allows me to focus on the patients I want to treat, where I want to live, and the type of career I want in medicine without worrying about the financial burden of medical school,” Kelley says. “This scholarship speaks to the community that Vermont has and how people support each other.”
Anka Delos Reyes ’28: Finding Her Path - and Building Community
For Anka Delos Reyes, the road to UVM was far from simple. After relocating to Tennessee with her mother - a registered nurse - Anka delayed college for two years to help support her family. When the time came to apply, she was determined to pursue higher education, but cost remained the biggest barrier. Thanks to donor-funded scholarship support, Anka was able to attend UVM and begin building a future for herself.
Now a first-generation college student in the Grossman School of Business, Anka is thriving. She’s engaged in campus life as a member of the Grossman Student Advisory Committee, an analyst with the Catamount Innovation Fund, and an advocate through the Women and Gender Equity Center. “I’ve been able to focus fully on my studies without the constant weight of financial strain,” she says. “Your generosity made this possible.”
Stories of Impact: SOLVE Campaign
Launching the Casella Center for Circular Economy and Sustainability
In 2024, Casella Waste Systems committed $1.5 million to establish the Casella Center for Circular Economy and Sustainability at UVM. Housed in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, the Center will serve as a hub for research and innovation in sustainable waste and materials management. It will support interdisciplinary work between faculty, students, and industry leaders on urgent environmental challenges, while advancing practical, scalable solutions.
Casella’s gift reflects a 30-year collaboration with UVM and marks the company’s first major investment in a university research center. As Professor Eric Roy, the Center’s inaugural director, put it: “With this new Center, we will be able to expand our circular economy research to find solutions that
benefit the public and the environment.”
Fessenden Professorship: Fueling Biomedical Innovation
In November 2024, Dr. Niccolo Fiorentino was invested as the inaugural Karl and Mary Fessenden Professor in Biomedical Engineering. A faculty member in UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Dr. Fiorentino leads the Musculoskeletal Imaging and Orthopaedic Biomechanics (MIOB) Laboratory - pioneering research to improve the treatment and long-term outcomes of orthopedic injuries. The endowed professorship, created by UVM alumni and longtime volunteers Karl and Mary Fessenden, strengthens biomedical research and mentoring at the intersection of engineering and health.
Fiorentino’s appointment reflects not only his impact as a scholar but also the Fessendens’ commitment to building a future where education, research, and industry work together to improve human health. “I hope to emulate Karl’s leadership qualities,” Dr. Fiorentino said. “This professorship accelerates not just my career, but the students in my lab, the Biomedical Engineering Program, and the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences as
a whole.”
Expanding Rural Partnerships
With a $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 2024, UVM’s Patrick Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships is scaling up its impact across Vermont. The investment will support a second cohort of UVM students in the Statewide Summer
Internship Project - placing them in rural communities for hands-on work, learning, and civic engagement. The grant also strengthens the Institute’s Data Services Collaboration, which provides local governments and nonprofits with accessible data tools to inform grant writing, development planning, and environmental projects.
This support amplifies UVM’s role as Vermont’s land grant university dedicated to rural resilience. As Ford Foundation President Darren Walker noted, “With this investment in the Leahy Institute, we hope to empower Vermont’s rural communities with the tools they need for sustainable growth, while also providing UVM students with service-learning experiences that help cultivate the next generation of leaders.”
Strengthening Cancer Research through Philanthropy
The J. Walter Juckett Foundation made a transformative gift in 2021 to establish an endowed chair in cancer research at the UVM Cancer Center. The gift enabled the university to recruit high-level leadership in oncology. Dean Richard Page described its impact succinctly: "Their gift ... was key to our ability to recruit world-class leadership to take our cancer center to the next level."
What We Built Together: The Lasting Impact of UVM’s SOAR and SOLVE Campaigns
Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst
Aug 12, 2025