Our Donors

"We See Tomorrow" campaign concludes

Kohlis’ $5M gift matches largest in YSU history

There’s busy, and then there’s – BUSY!

It’s fair to say that YSU philanthropy was BUSY this past summer and fall.

In a 14-week period between July and October 2021, YSU announced several millions of dollars in gifts from prominent donors, including a gift matching the largest ever for YSU from Dr. Chander Kohli and Karen Kohli.

The gifts created endowed professorships, renamed buildings and infused funds into academic programs ranging from Nursing to English.

In the midst of it all, dozens of donors from throughout the region gathered on the lawn of the Pollock House on campus to celebrate the conclusion of the university’s historic “We See Tomorrow” campaign that raised a record $126 million for YSU.

“We are simply overwhelmed by the generosity of the Mahoning Valley and alumni and friends across the nation,” Campaign Chair Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata said about the seven-year fundraising effort.

The campaign, by far the largest in the YSU’s history and believed to be the largest philanthropic effort ever across the Mahoning Valley, attracted 32,581 gifts, including 40 gifts of at least $1 million.

“Everywhere we went, when we spoke to people, their love for YSU was always at the center of every conversation,” YSU President Jim Tressel said.

The campaign, led by the YSU Foundation, started in 2014 with a goal of $100 million. By January 2020, the goal was reached, and then increased to $125 million – three times the size of the university’s last fund-raising campaign nearly 15 years ago. In fiscal years 2020 and 2021 alone – even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic – the campaign raised $32.4 million in donations.

The final tally: $126,187,126.

The money will be used in a variety of ways to help alleviate the financial burdens of students, improve faculty scholarly pursuits, bring state-of-the-art technology to classrooms and make YSU a hub of workforce development.

The Kohlis made the largest donation in the campaign, matching the largest donation in YSU history - $5 million. Dr. Kohli is a local neurosurgeon and former chair of the YSU Board of Trustees. In turn, the new building housing the YSU Excellence Training Center was named Kohli Hall.

“YSU represents the Mahoning Valley’s best hope for the future,” Kohli said. President Tressel added, “This historic gift and the naming ensures that the Kohlis’ legacy will live forever.”

Other recent major gift announcements:

• John J. and Janet Cafaro and their daughters, Capri Silvestri Cafaro and Renee Lynne Cafaro, donated $1.75 million. In turn, YSU renamed the Lincoln Building on campus as the J.J. and Janet Cafaro Hall, and also the adjacent Phelps Building as the Ronald G. Silvestri Hall, Janet Cafaro’s brother, a YSU alum and successful businessman who passed away in 2013. Cafaro is founder and president of the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust and the retired executive vice president of the Cafaro Co. Mrs. Cafaro is the president of Silcor Oilfield Services and of Parkway Holdings, which owns commercial real estate.
• Nancy Wagner, whose leadership of YSU’s Centofanti School of Nursing has resulted in increased enrollment, expanded community outreach, additional programming and enhanced fundraising, was named the first President James P. Tressel Endowed Chair in Leadership. The position was created through a $1.6 million gift from a group of YSU Foundation trustees in recognition of Tressel and his 35 years of leadership.
• Richard Sokolov, vice chairman and a member of the board of directors of Simon Property Group, and his wife, Susan, made a major donation to rename the Sokolov Honors College and create a new community fellows program. Mr. Sokolov joined the Edward J. Debartolo Corp. as senior vice president, Development and General Counsel, in 1982, and later became chief executive of DeBartolo Realty Corp. and then president and chief operating officer when DeBartolo merged with Simon Property Group
• Gwendolyn Thomas Watson and Janet Thomas Shanklin, daughters of the late Mahoning Valley businessman Paul J. Thomas and Marguerite Kauffman Thomas, donated $500,000 to create the Marguerite Kauffman Thomas Scholarship for women pursuing STEM degrees. The daughters also made a $1.5 million contribution to YSU in 2018 to create the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Economics.
• Patrick Durrell, professor of Astronomy, was named the inaugural Dr. Warren M. Young Chair in Physics and Astronomy. The position is named after Warren Young, retired YSU Physics and Astronomy professor and department chair and long-time director of the Ward Beecher Planetarium at YSU. Young’s son, George, established the academic chair through a $1.5 million endowment.
• Laura Beadling, associate professor of English and Film Studies, was named the inaugural Grace Ruth Memorial Endowed Professor of English. Robert Reeder III, a 1981 YSU graduate and now a partner in a New York law firm, donated $1 million to create the professorship in honor of his grandmother, Grace Ruth, and a second professorship in honor of his grandfather, Robert W. Reeder I. “Endowed professors have a lasting impact, increasing the institution’s academic excellence and providing educational and scholarly opportunities,” Tressel said.
• Amy Weaver, an associate professor in the Centofanti School of Nursing, was designated the inaugural Patricia McGovern Sweeney Professor in Nursing. The professorship was established by way of a $500,000 gift from Douglas Sweeney and his daughters - Carolyn Sweeney Berry, Andrea Sweeney Wagner and Alexa Sweeney Blackann - in honor of his wife and their mother Patricia’s lifelong career in the Nursing profession. The professorship is the latest of a long Sweeney family tradition of philanthropic support of YSU, amounting to more than $1 million.