About University Advancement
History
Arcadia University, formerly Beaver College until 2001, was founded in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in 1853. The College remained in the far western part of the state until the mid-1920s when it relocated to Glenside, Pennsylvania, after a devastating fire virtually destroyed the campus.
Soon after relocating, the College became aligned with the Presbyterian Church. Until the early 1970s, the Church was the main source of financial sustenance for the College and, unlike most private colleges and universities in the country at the time, Beaver placed little emphasis on securing private financial support from friends and alumni. Consequently, while most schools were building strong benefactor relationships with their constituencies in the early twentieth century, Beaver College was not actively pursuing the same friend-raising relationships.
In the early 1970s, the College began to change in many regards. In 1972 men were admitted for the first time and the Presbyterian Church relinquished responsibility for fiscal management to the Trustees. In 1985, Dr. Bette E. Landman was appointed President with a charge from the Board of Trustees to develop strategic long-range plans that would guarantee the financial future for the College. Shortly after her appointment, President Landman secured approval from the Board to invest the resources necessary to develop a comprehensive plan and an approach to friend-raising and fund-raising that would mirror successful programs at other colleges and universities.
In 2004, Dr. Jerry Greiner succeeded Dr. Landman and has continued the University's commitment to educate students who will succeed in a global society.
Mission
The Office of University Advancement today reflects the commitment, and is credited with the success, that grew out of the initiatives begun in 1985. Headed by the Vice President for University Advancement, two major departments support the external relations programs responsible for cultivating and attracting benefactor interest and support. The Offices of Alumni & Parent Relations and Development assist the President and the Board of Trustees in their efforts to strengthen the University through private charitable support. University fundraising goals are established by the Board of Trustees and the University Development Office is charged with interpreting these imperatives to the many constituencies of the University in a way that will attract the highest levels of philanthropic support.
The Office of Alumni Relations assists the Development Office by designing programs and materials to heighten the interest in and awareness of the University mission. Arcadia University is committed to providing the highest quality education to its students and to providing an environment that supports and nurtures the academically rigorous intellectual enterprise that students expect. Informed by this commitment, the offices of University Advancement provide a very important service to all external audiences of the University by communicating current University activities and the strategic planning through University publications. Arcadia, a magazine for all alumni, parents, and friends, is the primary source of regular communication. Additional University information is shared directly with these same audiences by mailings, personal visits from staff, frequent telephone communication and through the highly acclaimed University web site maintained on the Internet.
National Rankings
U.S. News & World Report rates colleges and universities each year on a scale developed to assess the quality of the each institution. These ratings are influenced by the admissions standards, quality of student life, character of the faculty and programs offered and the financial stability of each institution.
Arcadia University is proud to have been singled out by U.S. News & World Report in recent years and to be ranked highly in its listing of successful schools in the Northern Tier of universities. Clearly, the exemplary support of the Arcadia alumni, a major variable in these rankings, has consistently helped the University be recognized in this way.
