A year since its launch, Change Can’t Wait: The Campaign for American University has raised more than $342 million toward its ambitious $500 million goal. The campaign—which supports the university’s Changemakers for a Changing World strategic plan and empowers AU to tackle society’s most complex challenges—creates transformative educational opportunities for students, advances research with impact, and builds stronger communities throughout DC, across the nation, and around the world. 
 
Alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, and friends have enthusiastically responded to this call to action with extraordinary commitments of time and resources. Here’s a look at some of what we’ve accomplished together. 

ELEVATE

Change Can’t Wait is removing economic hurdles and eliminating student debt through increased financial aid, scholarships, and support for AU’s equity-based funds, giving way to more critical funding for students with wide-ranging experiences and backgrounds. We’ve already passed several milestones, including the creation of more than 100 new scholarships and an increase in giving to equity-based funds by an average of 68 percent annually. 

INSPIRE

AU faculty—who address urgent challenges and guide the next generation of changemakers—generate knowledge that advances society. Since the campaign’s launch, we have bolstered AU scholar-teachers by establishing endowed chairs, investing in research, and funding centers with real-world impact. Last year, we celebrated a $5 million gift from AU trustee and congressperson David Trone (D-MD) and his wife, June, through the David and June Trone Family Foundation. The gift established an endowed eminent scholar chair in neuroscience and behavior; Professor Terry Davidson was installed as the inaugural chairholder. We also established the AU Fund for Faculty, Research, and Innovation to support the work of top scholar-teachers and increase the capacity of our research centers, which foster collaboration and pursue groundbreaking innovations.

LEAD

Change Can’t Wait strengthens communities by cultivating partnerships, building civic agency, and creating space for diversity of thought. In January, the School of Education was named among the recipients of a $5 million JP Morgan Chase grant that advances an AU partnership that helps early childhood educators in the District—primarily Black and Latina women—obtain a required credential and continue their education. The campaign also increases AU’s operating budget, expanding the university’s ability to create change where it’s needed most. This year, we increased annual giving by $1 million—reaching a strategic plan milestone ahead of schedule. 

WHAT’S NEXT

The work to elevate, inspire, and lead continues with a further commitment to the student experience. Change Can’t Wait will help fuel the largest student thriving capital investment in AU history: $85 million to create an environment that supports the physical, mental, and social health of AU changemakers. This includes the new Center for Athletic Performance (CAP), a new student wellness extension, and Mary Graydon Center renovations. Early lead gifts to Change Can’t Wait kickstarted this initiative with plans for the CAP. Now, AU is making a historic investment in the project and will seek additional philanthropic support to realize this vision. 
 
AU changemakers are building a stronger, more resilient world. Make your gift today and join alumni and friends fueling the university’s critical work to elevate, inspire, and lead through Change Can’t Wait. 
 
Why us? Changemaking is in our DNA. Why now? We know change can’t wait.

CHANGEMAKERS ON THE ROAD

Change Can’t Wait is traveling across the country to celebrate AU changemakers and unite our community around the campaign’s call to action. Nearly 700 Eagles have joined us in Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and New York, where President Sylvia Burwell addressed each audience. These events bring together changemaking alumni, faculty, and distinguished guests for meaningful conversations about AU’s role in taking on today’s most pressing issues. Learn what these changemakers had to say, stay tuned for news of additional cities and dates, and watch event recaps at american.edu/change-cant-wait/events.cfm.
 
Fort Lauderdale, February 10: AU Student Government president Chyna Brodie, SPA/BA ’23, and trustee Charlie Lydecker, SPA/BA ’85, welcomed guests to this kick-off event. Amy Dacey, SPA/MA ’95, executive director of AU’s Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, moderated a discussion on delivering results that matter by finding common ground, featuring Alphonso Jackson and Julián Castro, both Sine fellows and former secretaries of Housing and Urban Development. “The students at American are going to have all the tools to be not only engaged citizens but also to be those people who make us a better country in the years to come,” Castro said. Trustee and campaign committee member Jack Cassell, SOC/BA ’77, closed the program.
 
Los Angeles, March 8: “The way you decide to exist and what you decide to do in the world could change lives and change outcomes,” said award-winning musician and artist Deon Jones, SPA/BA ’14, on why he chose AU. Political expert Dan Schnur, SPA/BA, ’87, welcomed Sherri Williams, SOC professor of race, media, and communication, and Brian Hughes, SPA professor and associate director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab, for a conversation on overcoming extremism, stereotypes, and misrepresentation. A message from university campaign committee member Jill Black, SOC/BA ’83, closed the evening.
 
San Francisco, March 11: Bay Area Eagles gathered to hear two of the world’s foremost cybersecurity experts: Diana Burley, vice provost for research and innovation, and Heng Xu, director of the Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center. Provost Peter Starr led the panel on who creates tech policy and why it matters. They discussed responsibilities for protecting user data, how to design inclusive tech problem-solving, and regulation issues. “We can create a positive change whether we are in San Francisco or any part of the world as graduates of AU,” said AU alumni board member Miguel Bustos, SIS/MA ’95.
 
Washington, DC, April 7: The 2022 Patriot League champion women’s basketball team opened the event. Carol Melton, WCL/JD ’81, welcomed moderator and university campaign committee member Patty Stonesifer, CAS/Hon. DPS ’17. SOE dean Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy and Erika Pulley-Hayes, WAMU 88.5 general manager, discussed AU partnerships across DC. “AU is a great place to learn, a great place to be. And it’s essential to the experience that we have a vibrant DC region,” Stonesifer said. Alumni board president Jonathan Mathis, Kogod/BSBA ’04, spoke before AU’s gospel choir and chamber singers closed the program.
 
New York, June 15: CBS News veteran Susan Zirinsky, SOC/BA ’74, kicked off the event; trustee and campaign committee cochair Jeff Sine, SIS/BA ’76, introduced the program; and Kogod professor Valentina Bruno quizzed the audience. Campaign committee cochair Peter Scher, SPA/BA ’83, WCL/JD ’87, and Gary Cohn, BSBA/Kogod ’82, offered perspectives on the economy and how AU prepared them for leadership roles in finance. “One thing about the AU community is that we have a powerful sense of purpose, and we share a common belief that . . . we can drive change in the world,” Burwell said. Mathis closed the program.

YOUR IMPACT

There’s strength in numbers. Change Can’t Wait creates lasting, positive change in the world, and AU’s alumni community—135,000 Eagles and growing—is vital to this work. Through annual gifts, alumni demonstrate the power of collective impact: supporting students, faculty, and research that gives AU flexibility to address emerging needs across campus. The number of alumni who give each year also influences AU’s ranking among colleges and universities. To join your alumni community in helping AU elevate, inspire, and lead through Change Can’t Wait, visit giving.american.edu.