Tucked away in a small room in Porter Quadrangle in the Ellicott Complex, students are raising money for fellow students and the university. This team of students is part of the UB Bull Horn, a call center that accepts donations on behalf of the university.
"The UB bull horn is helping change people's lives by providing scholarships to those in need," said Bill Lambert, director of annual programs. "It is also ensuring that we provide higher, better and more cutting edge technology to the students."
According to Lambert, the department of annual programs has been so successful because of its ability to contact the largest assortment of alumni throughout the country.
"Annual programs deal with everyone giving us contact to the largest number of alumni," said Lambert.
In the past, the university has had success from fundraising through direct mail, raising $1.5 million last year. Lambert said the implementation of the call center has improved alumni contributions.
According to Chris Horgan, staff assistant at the office of the vice president for annual advancement at UB Bull Horn, the center has raised around $200,000 since its opening on Sept. 17.
"The schools and units set their own funding priorities; typically the money goes towards scholarships for students, equipment purchase, upgrading of labs and faculty enhancements," said Lambert. "With this money we can support faculty member research and the graduate students that help faculty do research."
Although donations and providing the up-to-date technology and education to students is a high priority, it is not the only one. For the staff of the Bull Horn, students ranging from freshmen to seniors, experience is an important perk of working at the UB Bull Horn.
"It is a way to build strong communication skills and establish relationships between the students and alumni," said Lambert.
Not only does the Bull Horn offer many plusses for the UB community as a whole, it also serves to better individual students, according to Lambert; they are offered a convenient job in a setting seasoned for gaining important networking and business skills.
"Working at the Bull Horn is the best job on campus because the students are serving as ambassadors for their university. They are doing a service that is really great for the school as well as other students," said Lambert.
Students working at the Bull Horn also feel that they are the proper liaisons for alumni contributing to the university.
"I really enjoy the work and the people which I work with," said Taryn Brymn, a freshman communication major. "I really think that alumni are going to be more willing to give because when they are called, they are talking to students whom will benefit from their generosity."
Although each staff member at the call center has a separate database of alumni based on the schools within the university they received their degrees from, money donated goes directly to the areas of the university that the alumni wishes to donate to.
"All of the money goes right into UB," said Lambert. "The money goes first to scholarships, then to equipment such as new computers and finally faculty enhancement which helps professors with research and development of new ideas and innovations."
The dental and medical schools are two areas of the university that are receiving donations in specific areas of interest.
The medical school is trying to raise money for new laboratory equipment for their classes, while the dental school is hoping that they receive enough money for DVD technology that will enable dental students to practice certain dental procedures at home.
The UB Bull Horn call center is located at 122 Porter Quad and is accepting applications for those students interested in working there.
Additional reporting by Jennell LeBeau, Special to the Spectrum
