Gala attendees: From left, Ann Wood, Barb Schmidt, Holli Rockwell Trubinsky, FAU President Stacy Volnick, Eleanor R. Baldwin, Christine E. Lynn and Marilyn Wallach

Florida Atlantic University has raised more than $1.2 million in support of scholarships and student success at its recent 2024 President’s Gala. The signature event at the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena on FAU’s Boca Raton campus was at capacity, attended by more than 600 friends of the university.

The gala builds on the launch of FAU’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign in 20 years – “Transcend Tomorrow: The Campaign for Florida Atlantic University.” The goal of the campaign is to propel growth and pursue innovative ways to solve tomorrow’s challenges today with a focus on scholarships and student success, FAU Health and the environment. To date, the campaign has raised more than $500 million from more than 58,000 donors.

“At Florida Atlantic, approximately one-third of our 30,000 students will be the first in their families to obtain a college degree, and nearly 40 percent come from low-income homes,” said FAU President Stacy Volnick. “By generating scholarship funds, we are transforming lives through educational opportunities, deepening our commitment to student success and bolstering support for areas that will strengthen Florida’s workforce. Thank you to our President’s Gala sponsors, attendees and volunteers for being part of this legacy.”

The evening’s presidential sponsors ($50,000 with each matched by the Florida Atlantic University Foundation for a total of $100,000) were Aubrey and Sally Strul; Bruce ’71 and Carolyn Allen; Deborah L. Floyd, Ph.D.; E. Steven ’89, ’93 and Yvonne C. zum Tobel ’93; FAU Alumni Association; Georgina Dieter Dennis Foundation; and an anonymous donor. 

Platinum sponsors ($25,000) included Accent Events, Inc.; Chartwells; Dr. Alan Aker and Dr. Ann Kasten-Aker; Follett Higher Education; JM Family Enterprises; and Toscano Family.

Gold sponsors ($10,000) included ADT Security Inc.; Boca Raton Regional Hospital / Baptist Health South Florida; BrightView; Christine E. Lynn / E.M. Lynn Foundation; Dr. Robert Colton and Dr. Andrea Colton; Florida Power & Light Company; Gabor Financial Solutions; iTHINK Financial Credit Union; JPMorgan Chase & Co; MobileHelp; Moss Construction; Presidio / Cisco; and ShowPro of South Florida, Inc.

Silver sponsors ($5,000) included Bonnie Halperin and family; Brian and Ingrid Poulin; General Building Maintenance LLC, A Pritchard Company; Grimes Events & Party Tents; Marilyn and Jay Weinberg; MGM Recovery; ModMed; Noel and Liza Gonzalez; PNC Bank; Research Park at Florida Atlantic University; Schmidt Family Foundation; State Contracting & Engineering Corp.; Steven and Deborah Schmidt; Stewart ’89 and Wendy Martin; The Geo Group Foundation; and Trustee Piero Bussani and Carrie Bussani.

Crystal sponsors ($2,500) were Bank of America Private Bank; Bernard A. Jackvony and Joshua J. Butera Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC; Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP; Cox Science Center and Aquarium; CMTi; Daikin Applied; Delicato Family Wines / Republic National Distributing Company; Double Eagle Distributing, Inc.; Exela Enterprise Solutions; Farmer & Irwin Corporation; Green Family Foundation Trust; Harvard Jolly | PBK Architecture; Intranet Communications Group, Inc.; James Moore & Company; Meisner Electric; Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP; O’Connell & Goldberg PR; Powell Landscaping & Design; FAU President Stacy Volnick; Siemens; Skanska; The Rotary Club of Boca Raton; Trustee Brad M. Levine and Dr. Melissa A. Friedman-Levine; Trustee Linda Stoch and Dr. Russell Stoch; Trustee Shaun M. Davis and Tanya Davis; Trustee Sherry Murphy and Dr. Mark Murphy; and Van Hipp.

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