UNCF Raises More Than $1 Million at 57th Anniversary Dinner - United Negro College Fund - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 12, 2001

NEW YORK

The United Negro College Fund raised more than $1 million at its 57th anniversary dinner held last month in New York. The funds will benefit students who attend the organization's 39 member colleges and institutions.

The dinner also provided the organization a chance to honor some of its most distinguished supporters. Among those receiving awards were Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, co-founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Eunice W. Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the Johnson Publishing Company and producer-director of Ebony Fashion Fair; Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, president of Smith College and president-elect of Brown University; Emmit McHenry, chairman and CEO of NetCom Solutions International Inc.; and George L. Davis, dean emeritus of University College, Rutgers University-Newark.

U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Roderick Paige and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., were among those who attended the event, along with William H. Gray, president and CEO of UNCF, and the presidents of UNCF's member colleges and universities. Overall, attendance at the black-tie event exceeded 1,500.

Also last month, CEO Gray was honored by Cleveland-based Kaleidoscope Magazine. At the event, Gray accepted a $385,000 contribution from Shell Oil Company and Equilon Enterprises, a Shell affiliate, to fund scholarships for students in the greater Cleveland area.

Founded in 1944, the UNCF is the nation's oldest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization. UNCF has raised more than $1.6 billion to support its member institutions and has helped more than 300,000 students earn undergraduate and graduate degrees.