Central European University (CEU) is making progress toward its matching challenge! Throughout the month of December, gifts to CEU will be matched, one for one, thanks to a challenge from the university's Board of Trustees. If you'd like to double the impact of your gift, give today. We are almost there with just over $20,000 to go.
The Matching Challenge was launched Nov. 30 by Kati Marton, CEU Trustee, a best-selling author and distinguished journalist. The launch event, called the Day of Thanks, celebrated CEU's donors and featured scholarship students from three countries, alumni, professors, and donors.
At the event, CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff highlighted the importance of philanthropy for CEU and emphasized investments in students and sustaining CEU's financial aid policies, which facilitate access to world-class education.
"Every time we invest in these students it turns out to be so worth it," Ignatieff said.
In addition to discussing the university’s ambitious plans, including the future residential Vienna campus in 2025, the recent addition of undergraduate studies, as well as a suite of new professional programs such as the EMBA for the Open World, Ignatieff also articulated CEU's continuing presence and work in Budapest through the Democracy Institute, the Blinken Open Society Archives and the Institute for Advanced Study.
"The unique pedagogy of CEU was transformational for me," said alumnus Uchenna Emelonye, the Country Representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Liberia and recipient of CEU's Alumni Impact Award in 2016. "CEU made me able to find a voice in the midst of divergent argument and divergent views."
Melanie Seymour, a corporate donor who helped to found the CEU Women in Technology Scholarship, with a philanthropic gift from BlackRock spoke with student Reja Rahmatullah, a 2020 graduate of CEU and scholarship recipient who now works at Blackrock.
"We're building the next generation of talent to help go out into the world," Seymour said.
Alumni Scholarship recipients Rola Elkamash of Egypt and Pavel Pudovkin of Russia also shared their experiences made possible by scholarship awards.
"What CEU nurtures on its campus and in its classes is about trying to listen to other people and bridging divides," said Pudovkin, who thanked the generous donors for helping students through the scholarship. Both he and Elkamash spoke of appreciating the community and volunteer engagement facilitated through Alumni Scholarship program.
An investment in CEU is an investment in the future, cultivating scholars who are focused on becoming drivers of change. Learn more about giving to CEU and the matching challenge here. After donations surpassed the initial $100,000 target, an anonymous alum was inspired to extend the match by an additional $25,000. CEU’s goal is to raise $125,000 by December 31. You can make a difference for promising students from around the world by making a gift today. Alumni wishing to participate in the challenge may do so here; and friends of CEU may contribute here.