Held Sept. 15-16, Red Day: “Stand Up and Holler” — the annual day of giving to colleges and programs at Lamar University — was a success, according to LU Development Coordinator Lauren Wilson, who reported that $330,907 was raised, with 382 donors and 456 donations.
This year, the style and theme of Red Day is “Stand Up and Holler,” reflecting pride, school spirit and the unifying energy of a pep rally as LU encourages Cardinals and friends to stand up in support of the university.
LU received a phenomenal outpouring of support for this Red Day for its student and programs, Wilson said, noting that the total was more than double than the inaugural event held last year.
“Last year, on our very first Red Day, we raised over $120,000; this year, we more than doubled that at over $330,000, thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors,” she said. “Red Day was a huge success, not only in spectacular amount of funding that our community was able to raise for our students, but as an event that gave an inside look into some of the amazing facilities and projects here on campus. It also brought together so many of our faculty, staff and students to share about the unique opportunities and experiences they have had here at Lamar University.”
Challenges are also held during Red Day to boost donations.
“On behalf of all of us at Lamar University, we are so grateful to everyone who came out to support our Cardinals by donating, volunteering and spreading the word this Red Day,” the development coordinator said. “We also want to give a huge thanks to our challenge sponsors, whose generous gifts served to inspire others to give and to amplify Red Day donations to make an even greater impact on our university.”
Challenge sponsors include the following winners:
• Tom Mays ’76 — $1,000 to the College of Business
• Dean Dan French, dean of the College of Business — $15,000 to the College of Business
• Dr. Don Warren, director of the School of Accounting & Information Systems — $10,000 to the College of Business
• Ed Gunderson ’78 — $10,000 to the College of Engineering
“We also are so grateful to the Lamar University Foundation, which provided cash prizes to the Red Day Top 3: the three academic colleges that brought in the most donors proportionate to their number of alumni,” Wilson said. The winners of the Red Day Top 3 include the following:
1. College of Fine Arts and Communication
2. College of Business
3. College of Engineering
“Thanks to the tremendous participation, this event was a huge success and will provide critical funding to our academic colleges, athletic programs, scholarships, research and much more at LU,” she said, noting that Lamar University is looking forward to the promising growth with next year’s event. “We are so excited to see this event grow and become an important tradition on campus. Red Day really demonstrates the generosity and unity of our Cardinal family, near and far, and directly benefits our students with funding that creates so many amazing opportunities here at Lamar University. We couldn’t be more grateful for the success of this year’s Red Day and cannot wait for what’s in store next year, which will coincide with the centennial anniversary of the founding of LU.”
For more information about this annual day of giving, visit
Lamar.edu/giving.