Former Omaha mayor’s $50,000 gift supports UNO’s political science department and students
The gift, which establishes the Mayor Mike Fahey Omaha City Government and Politics Fund, was announced today at a luncheon honoring Fahey on the UNO campus.
Former Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey recently made a $50,000 gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support students and academic programs in the political science department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The gift, which establishes the Mayor Mike Fahey Omaha City Government and Politics Fund, was announced today at a luncheon honoring Fahey on the UNO campus.
“Mayor Fahey has played a tremendous role in furthering the vision of our city and community, and now with his generous gift to the political science department, he is doing the same for our university,” says UNO Chancellor John Christensen. “It is an honor to have his name associated with the new opportunities his gift will provide, and I sincerely thank him for his commitment to helping shape the next generation of government leaders.”
Mayor Fahey’s gift will support the political science department in three major ways.
It will support the development and implementation of a credited course, Omaha City Government and Politics, to be offered at UNO.
The fund will also create the Mayor Mike Fahey Lecture on City Government and Politics and will cover speaker fees, travel costs and other expenses related to the lecture program.
Finally, the gift will establish the Mayor Mike Fahey Internship Program, which will pay a stipend to students working as “Mayor Mike Fahey Interns” for the City of Omaha.
“We are enormously grateful to Mayor Fahey. UNO is the comprehensive metropolitan university in the heart of our city,” says Randall Adkins, chair of the political science department. “Through Mayor Fahey’s generous contribution, our outstanding students will be better-prepared to assume leadership roles in public service.”
Mayor Fahey was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1943 and graduated from Creighton University in 1973. Upon graduation, he founded a title insurance company, American Land Title Company, and served as CEO until retiring in 1997. He was elected as the 49th mayor of Omaha in 2001 and won his second term in 2005.
“I am proud my gift will be used to help young political science students get the training and experience necessary to prepare them for a lifetime of public service,” says Mayor Fahey.
The University of Nebraska Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that has connected the dreams and passions of donors to the mission of the university for more than 75 years. In 2011, donors gave more than $172 million in gifts to scholarships, academic programs, medical research and other priorities at the university. The foundation’s fundraising initiative, the Campaign for Nebraska: Unlimited Possibilities, concludes in 2014. For more information, visit nufoundation.org.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s metropolitan university. The core values of the institution place students at the center of all that the university does; call for the campus to strive for academic excellence; and promote community engagement that transforms and improves urban, regional, national and global life. UNO, inaugurated in 1968, emerged from the Municipal University of Omaha, established in 1931, which grew out of the University of Omaha founded in 1908.
