A piece of the Changing Lives, Building Futures campaign that needs help from alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends is the collection of stories we’re assembling at www.changinglives.susquehanna.edu. Contributions to the site come in the form of memories and reflections submitted by individuals for whom Susquehanna holds special meaning.

As of February 15, 2007, we had 29 stories posted, whose authors have included fun and interesting tidbits like:

“To say that Susquehanna University changed my life would be the understatement of the century…”

“I never planned to teach at Susquehanna University more than one year…”

“As a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, who had been homeless at age 15 and who had nearly dropped out of high school…”

“I was not the best student, but what I lacked in GPA I made up for in other ways…”

If you haven’t yet read any of our stories, please do. And we’d really love to have you submit one of your own. Everyone has a thread to contribute to the Susquehanna tapestry, and we need yours to help complete it. And, if you have a picture, send that, too! So please, take 15 minutes and tell us about Susquehanna’s role in your life. It’s a contribution we need you to make, and we’d be grateful to receive it. Click on “Share” and then let your fingers do the talking…

Want your name to go down in SU history? Be among the first to have a sandwich named after you.

Recent graduates and current students will soon receive a hamburger in the mail. Okay, not a real hamburger, but a photo that really could make your mouth water. This postcard invites them to make a gift, thereby giving them a chance to have a sandwich named in their honor at Benny’s Bistro, formerly known as Encore Café and the Retail Restaurant.

The appeal is a way of helping students and young alumni begin to develop an understanding of philanthropy in a fun way, according to Angela Hoot ’00, assistant director of the Susquehanna University Fund.

“The contest is a light-hearted way to bring alumni and students together in showing their commitment to Susquehanna and what it’s done for them,” Hoot says. “Whether it’s a first gift or a consecutive gift, we hope this program will be a neat incentive for our newest generation to contribute.”

Joanne Marquardt ’00 Troutman, director of the Susquehanna University Fund, says the contest is a way of translating those contributions into something tangible.

“Often, graduates and students look around and see million dollar buildings named after SU’s great philanthropists,” Troutman says. “Those large gifts have helped shape SU as an excellent educational institution. But seeing those names sometimes makes it difficult for alumni to understand how their $10 makes a difference if they’re not capable of making a larger gift.”

Troutman says that Susquehanna’s future and culture relies heavily on getting one gift from every alumnus during each fiscal year. In fact, the percentage of alumni who support the school is one of the factors in national college rankings. Making a gift at any amount is a way that every alumnus can help enhance the value of their own degree.

“Once students become alumni, it is great if they can give more to SU,” she adds. “But that’s not entirely what alumni philanthropy is about. It’s about reflecting on the whole experience, your friends and education, and saying, ‘Susquehanna has given me something important.’ That’s a reason for giving back annually, regardless of the amount.”

Graduates of the last decade and students can go to http://www.susqu.edu/sandwich to learn more about the contest.

To make a contribution, go to http://development.susqu.edu/html/now/.