UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
LETTER FROM THE DEAN
A Rising Tide for Research, Discovery, and Student Success
Serving every college, every discipline and every student, University Libraries is the intellectual crossroads of campus – a place where teaching, learning, research and innovation converge. Through the generosity of visionary donors, The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign strengthened this vital academic enterprise, ensuring that future generations of students and faculty will have access to the resources, technologies, expertise and spaces necessary to thrive in an increasingly complex world.
Each gift reflects a distinct philanthropic vision that, together, tells a larger story – one of confidence in The University of Alabama and in the transformative power of its libraries. The Rising Tide 2.0 has demonstrated that the University of Alabama’s greatest strength has always been the generosity and vision of those who believe in its mission. I want to thank our major donors, and I also want to recognize the power and importance of every gift made to University Libraries during this campaign. Every student who discovers a new passion through research, every faculty member who advances knowledge through scholarship, every entrepreneur who analyzes market data and every scholar who creates new digital pathways to understanding will benefit from all the gifts received.
The lasting promise of The Rising Tide 2.0 is this: by strengthening University Libraries, our generous donors have strengthened the entire University. Your gifts will continue to lift students, faculty, scholarship and discovery for generations to come, ensuring that as The University of Alabama rises, so too do the lives and communities it serves. We are humbled by and thankful for such generosity.
Dr. Don Gilstrap
Dean
THE MOMENTUM WE BUILT
$10.5M
TOTAL RAISED
2,380
NUMBER OF DONORS
6,369
GIFTS RECEIVED
THE IMPACT OF RISING TOGETHER
Honoring a Legacy While Investing in the Future: The Ann and Angelo Bruno Family Endowed Fund for Excellence
Long before The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign began, Angelo Bruno helped redefine what philanthropy could accomplish at The University of Alabama. His landmark 1991 gift established the Angelo Bruno Business Library, creating a premier resource for business education and setting a standard for transformational giving.
During The Rising Tide 2.0, Ann Bruno and the Bruno family chose not only to honor that remarkable legacy but to ensure that it continues to evolve. Their $500,000 gift establishing The Ann and Angelo Bruno Family Endowed Fund for Excellence, and their additional gifts totaling $125,000 to the Angelo Bruno Business Library Gift Fund reflect a shared vision that excellence requires continual innovation.
The endowment provides permanent support for the Angelo Bruno Business Library’s operations, advanced business intelligence resources, educational programming, and emerging technologies. It ensures that students preparing to enter an increasingly data-driven global economy have access to the sophisticated research tools, analytics platforms and collaborative learning environments expected of today’s business leaders.
The Ann and Angelo Bruno Family Endowed Fund for Excellence provides permanent support for the Angelo Bruno Business Library’s operations and resources. Pictured, from left: Lawrence Bowness Jr., Suzanne Bruno Bowness, Ron Bruno and Lee Ann Bruno.
The Ann and Angelo Bruno Family Endowed Fund for Excellence provides permanent support for the Angelo Bruno Business Library’s operations and resources. Pictured, from left: Lawrence Bowness Jr., Suzanne Bruno Bowness, Ron Bruno and Lee Ann Bruno.
Their investment came at a defining moment, complementing the award-winning renovation of the Angelo Bruno Business Library into one of the University’s premier technology-rich learning spaces. Together, these investments transformed not simply a building, but the educational experience it provides.
The Bruno family’s generosity exemplifies one of the University’s highest strategic priorities: preparing graduates to lead in an ever-changing world by providing access to innovative technologies, exceptional learning environments, and world-class academic support.
Investing in Every Student: The Russell–Hendrix University Libraries Endowment for Excellence
Few philanthropic investments have the potential to touch every student on campus. The Russell–Hendrix University Libraries Endowment for Excellence is one of those rare gifts.
Longtime University Libraries Leadership Board members Dedie and Bill Hendrix have long understood that while every college has its own alumni, every graduate of The University of Alabama has relied upon its libraries. Through the Adelia Russell Charitable Foundation, they committed $1 million during The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign, including $400,000 to establish this permanent endowment.
Dedie and Bill Hendrix committed $400,000 to establish the Russell–Hendrix University Libraries Endowment for Excellence.
Dedie and Bill Hendrix committed $400,000 to establish the Russell–Hendrix University Libraries Endowment for Excellence.
Inspired by the legacy of Dedie’s grandmother, Adelia Russell – a visionary advocate whose leadership helped establish a public library for her community – the endowment reflects an enduring belief that libraries are engines of opportunity, lifelong learning and civic engagement.
Designed with flexibility in mind, the endowment allows University Libraries to respond strategically to emerging opportunities and evolving academic needs. Its earnings support innovative educational programming, distinguished lectures, technology enhancements, special initiatives, and the continued development of both general and special collections.
In an era of rapid change, this unrestricted support provides something invaluable: the ability to adapt. Whether responding to new research priorities, emerging technologies, or evolving methods of teaching and learning, the Russell–Hendrix Endowment strengthens University Libraries’ capacity to serve the University’s mission wherever the need is greatest.
It is an investment not in one department or one discipline, but in the academic success of the entire University community.
Building Tomorrow’s Research Enterprise: The Henry Dean Wray Digital Scholarship Fund
As scholarship continues to evolve, so too must the ways universities support discovery. Increasingly, groundbreaking research depends upon digital tools, computational methods, data visualization, digital preservation and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Recognizing this transformation, Joan and Wray Pearce made one of the campaign’s most impactful investments through their $1 million gift establishing The Henry Dean Wray Digital Scholarship Fund. This is in addition to the million-dollar gift they made almost 20 years ago.
Their most recent gift is given in the name of Henry Dean Wray, Wray Pearce’s grandfather and namesake. Henry was a builder and general contractor and owned a hardware store that he started on his own.
When Wray Pearce was discharged from the Marine Corps, he decided to attend The University of Alabama. As a recent veteran and struggling college student, he looked to his grandfather, Henry Wray, for help with his first semester’s tuition and room and board at Alabama. This was the only assistance that he received while attending the University. That single act of support has now been multiplied into a resounding legacy that will benefit generations of students and scholars.
The fund advances one of the University’s most important strategic priorities – expanding research excellence and innovation. By supporting next-generation technologies, digital scholarship initiatives and emerging teaching methodologies, it positions University Libraries as a catalyst for interdisciplinary research and creative inquiry across campus.
Wray and Joan Pearce’s $1 million gift to University Libraries honors Wray’s grandfather, Henry Dean Wray, who supported Wray financially during his freshman year at UA.
Wray and Joan Pearce’s $1 million gift to University Libraries honors Wray’s grandfather, Henry Dean Wray, who supported Wray financially during his freshman year at UA.
Today’s students must navigate a world shaped by artificial intelligence, digital archives, geographic information systems, data science, immersive technologies and computational research. Faculty increasingly require sophisticated digital infrastructure to pursue competitive scholarship and secure external funding. The Henry Dean Wray Digital Scholarship Zone, funded through the Pearces’ gift, will ensure that University Libraries remains a campus leader in providing both the expertise and technological resources necessary to meet these challenges.
Like its namesake, the fund is fundamentally about building knowledge, opportunity and a stronger future for The University of Alabama.