Pace in the News

Christine Meola

Crain’s New York Business: Passing the funding test – Despite the recession, schools bring in record contributions . . . .“You have to continue to build relationships and not be afraid to ask [for money] in a down economy,” says Christine Meola, vice president for philanthropy at Pace University, which this month hit its three-year, $100 million campaign goal two months ahead of schedule.

 . . . Pace University this year started doing generational marketing, making different pitches, say, to baby boomers and new graduates. Nearly 10 months into the fiscal year, its annual fund is up 28% over last year, and overall donations are up 13%.

Journal News: Colleges, students embrace ‘green’ spirit . . . Pace University’s environmental endeavors are extensive enough that it devotes an entire website to them: Pace University Environmental Gateway.
There you can find information about sustainability practices across Pace’s New York City and Westchester campuses, whether its use of energy and water, its green buildings and landscaping or student initiatives.

There are sections on degree programs, international opportunities, internships and clinics and student organizations. The site is maintained by the Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies.

. . . Pace has signed onto New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC, his initiative to green New York City by reducing carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030.

Pace is striving to reduce its greenhouse gases in 10 years, said Michelle Land, the director of the Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies. It has already cut its emissions 5 percent since 2007.
“Environmental health is so critical to human health,” Land said. “They just go hand in hand so there’s that recognition that those things have to be addressed in the most innovative way possible.”

Management Today: What Would Keynes Think? . . . A significant motivator to the Keynes school of thought is that government intervention will help preserve the population’s animalistic spirit – the spirit and confidence to go out and spend money, start businesses and take chances in general.

 . . . Obama’s stimulus act was aimed at rejuvenating spending and encouraging economic activity, but Pace Professor Michael Szenberg says during the economic slump, the natural urge to save prevailed.

“Keynes would say even the stimulus was not enough,” he notes. “It wasn’t enough because people still were not spending. Whoever got the stimulus just put it away. The animal spirits that encourage spending are just missing, to an extent.

“Consumption is the best driver of investment,” Szenberg says, “so Keynes is right. If people consume, the animal spirit will enter, and they’ll invest in machinery, factories, etc.”