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������ý���� has announced a $1 million gift from Trustee Keith DiGrazio '84 and Christine Pindale DiGrazio '85 to support several initiatives of the recently announced Transforming Students - Transforming Lives fundraising campaign.

The couple have requested their gift be split between the ������ý���� Arena project, an undertaking that will include a new training facility for athletes, and the University’s Annual Fund, which provides immediate current-use support for all aspects of the student experience.

“Christine and I decided to split our gift between the ������ý���� Arena project and the ������ý���� Annual Fund in order to impact not only future athletes but all ������ý���� students,” Keith DiGrazio says. “By making an unrestricted gift, this allows the University to apply those monies to its greatest needs.”

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The DiGrazios are proud supporters of ������ý����. In addition to gifts to the Annual Fund, the ������ý���� Resource Pantry and the Al Sumutka Endowed Scholarship, the couple have supported a number of athletic teams and initiatives, including men's and women's basketball, wrestling and the ������ý���� Arena project. Most recently, Keith DiGrazio, along with Wayne Canastra '72 and Jason Thompson '08, are leading ������ý����'s Champions for Athletics Campaign Committee. To date the committee has raised over $12 million toward a goal of $18 million for the arena project, becoming the most successful fundraising effort in ������ý���� Athletics history.

The public launch of the Transforming Students - Transforming Lives campaign was celebrated during the University’s Homecoming Weekend on Oct. 29. During its quiet phase, the campaign raised more than $76 million toward its $80 million goal. The public phase emphasizes community participation by inviting ������ý���� supporters to contribute any amount to the campaign’s remaining priorities, which are to invest in facilities, to increase scholarship support and build the University’s endowment, and to fuel student success through gifts to the Annual Fund.

The DiGrazios’ major gift comes just over a month after ������ý���� publicly announced its comprehensive fundraising campaign and two months since Athletics received a $500,000 gift to transform the University’s wrestling center. So far more than 14,000 donors have contributed to the campaign which is the largest in University history.

“I am deeply grateful for Keith and Christine’s gift and for all of our generous donors, both those who have given in the past and those who are joining us now in this new phase of our campaign,” says President Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D. “Together, we will make ������ý���� even stronger, serving students well into the future.”