Boundless Beginnings

The Boundless campaign set out to support seven key institutional priorities: student financial aid, the Muhlenberg Annual Fund, endowed professorships, the Seegers Union expansion, integrative learning and high-impact practices, the Fahy Commons for Public Engagement and Innovation, and the Muhlenberg network. 

It also set out to be a different kind of campaign. Boundless was built upon volunteer leadership, a strategic departure from previous campaigns. In the past, college presidents and administrators were the ones meeting with prospects. During the Boundless campaign, they were joined by alumni, parents, and friends of the college who invested significant time, energy, and resources in the campaign and in Muhlenberg. 

Tammy Bormann ’83 P’16, Mark Paris ’80 P’16, and Doug Peebles ’87 served as campaign co-chairs, and more than 70 volunteers joined the campaign’s seven committees: alumni giving, parent giving, annual giving, leadership gifts, planned gifts, emerging philanthropists, and the campus community. Volunteers connected with more than 430 alumni and donors over the course of the campaign, which began its quiet phase in 2018.

“The volunteer structure built into the strategy for this campaign was unprecedented for Muhlenberg,” Brown says. “Volunteers partnered with advancement [staff] in meetings with donors for the purposes of cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. While our donors are receptive to outreach from the college, hearing from a classmate or peer about why they chose to support Muhlenberg is incredibly motivating. Our volunteers did an outstanding job, and they gained a deeper understanding of the philanthropic work being done at the college.”

This work went virtual as the pandemic hit in 2020, and that was far from the only challenge that took place throughout the course of the campaign, which launched its public phase in 2021. 

“The rugged terrain Muhlenberg traversed during the Boundless campaign was daunting: COVID isolation and the college’s need to pivot on a dime, a change in college leadership, economic inflation, global civil unrest and conflict, and relentless attacks on U.S. higher education,” says Bormann. “In the face of these challenges, the advancement team remained strategic, steady, and determined; the alumni volunteers leaned into their tasks with untiring commitment; current and retired faculty and staff embraced the Boundless goals and added fundraising to their already full plates; and Kathy Harring, Rebekkah Brown, and the advancement team traversed the country to educate, inspire, and galvanize the Muhlenberg family. In the end, the entire Muhlenberg community showed up to give their time and treasure at unprecedented levels.”

Boundless Impact

At the gala in May, Brown, Bormann, Paris, and Peebles detailed the impact the campaign has made and will continue to make. The nearly $49 million raised for student financial aid will make a Muhlenberg education accessible to more students from all backgrounds. The nearly $30 million raised for the Muhlenberg Annual Fund will provide flexible resources to maximize student success and enrich the learning experience. The $5.7 million raised for integrative learning and high-impact practices will provide faculty and students increased opportunities for research, scholarship, and community-engaged learning. And the $1 million raised for the Muhlenberg network will allow the college to leverage its alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and other champions to provide professional learning experiences and career guidance to all students and alumni. 

The campaign also established four new endowed professorships. In 2023, a $4 million gift from James R. ’66 and Debra A. Lentz established Lentz Professorships in Theatre and Dance (currently held by Jim Peck and Karen Dearborn). The week of the campaign celebration, two new professorships were announced: the William R. Breidenthall Ph.B., CPA Class of 1941 Professorship in Accounting, Business, Economics, or Finance (held by Ranajoy Ray-Chaudhuri) and the Tammy L. Bormann ’83 P’16 and Mark J. Paris ’80 P’16 Endowed Professorship in Political Philosophy (held by Giacomo Gambino). These new professorships were created by matching $1 million gifts from the Breidenthall family and Bormann and Paris with $1 million distributions from the more than $15 million estate gift from Edward ’42 and Lois Robertson, the largest gift from an individual or family in the college’s history.

A $7.5 million gift from Gerald P. Fahy ’79 and Cathleen A. Fahy, the institution’s largest personal gift when it was announced in 2020, launched the construction of the Fahy Commons for Public Engagement and Innovation, which opened in 2023, and the expansion of Seegers Union, which broke ground in 2024. Support from other donors has enabled these capital projects to move forward. Fahy Commons, which has earned several awards for being among the most sustainable buildings in the world, brings together incredible technology, programs designed to deepen engagement with the community, and opportunities for interdisciplinary innovation. The Seegers Union expansion, set to open in 2026, will meet a vast array of needs, housing a college welcome center, a new Career Center, spaces for alumni activities and engagement as well as student clubs and organizations, and more. 

“Each of our campaign priorities speaks directly to Muhlenberg’s enduring purpose: to equip students to lead lives of meaning and impact, to shape an institution where education is not an end in itself, but a powerful means to advance the common good,” Harring said at the gala. “Philanthropy has never been more important to that effort.”

A Boundless Future

The campaign has had and will continue to have concrete effects on the student experience at Muhlenberg. However, it also served as a testament to the power of involving more alumni, families, and friends of the college in institutional fundraising. 

“I think the legacy of this campaign will be the shift in the culture of philanthropy at Muhlenberg — the power of the collective community and the confidence it has built in Muhlenberg among its constituents,” Brown says.

“We are in a period that will continue to bring about rapid changes in the higher education arena,” Peebles says. “It is critical that Boundless is not a completed destination. It is the beginning of a journey. We need to build on the foundation of the many alumni we conversed with during this campaign. We also need to widen the net and reconnect a far higher percentage of our graduates with the college that they love so much.”

At the gala, former Board of Trustees Chair Rich Crist ’77 P’05 P’09 offered reflections on the historic nature of the campaign and the obstacles Muhlenberg overcame along the way, while current Chair Lance Bruck ’89 P’21 thanked the donors who gave $1 million or more to Boundless.

The evening ended with the Dynamics, Muhlenberg’s oldest co-ed a capella group, leading attendees in a parting rendition of the alma mater. Immediately beforehand, Harring concluded her remarks by expressing gratitude for all who supported the campaign.

“Thank you for believing in this vision, for making it real, and for all you continue to do to support Muhlenberg College,” Harring said. “Here’s to what we’ve built — and to where we’re going next.”