Each of UC's 2,600 endowment funds has its own story and makes its own impact. Each one supports a specific scholarship, professorship, research project, or other program; and, ultimately, UC’s mission.
From helping a student afford to attend college, to sponsoring a lecture series that inspires a future career, to developing a life-saving drug, to exonerating an innocent life...their missions are varied and their stories and impacts reach far and wide; and it's the privilege of the Investment Office to work ambitiously day-by-day to drive investment gains in order to maximize those impacts.
Two programs we're particularly proud to support through the endowment are the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) and the Gen-1 Impact House. These programs are making an immeasurable impact thanks, in part, to the perpetual gifts which helped to establish and continue to provide funds for each endeavor.
The goal of the Ohio Innocence Project is to exonerate every wrongly-convicted Ohioan. Harnessing the energy and intellect of UC law students as its driving force, OIP seeks to identify inmates in Ohio prisons who are actually innocent of the crimes they were convicted of committing. Since its founding in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has helped 42 individuals obtain their long-sought freedom.
We are their last hope. Someone to advocate and believe in them and fight for them when no one else will.
Mallorie Thomas Former OIP Fellow
Gen-1 is a groundbreaking UC program and the nation's first living-learning community to focus on first-generation college students. The Gen-1 Program was established in 2008 and is a living and learning community that shepherds Pell-eligible, 1st generation college students helping to ensure academic success through high-intensity advising, academic courses, and co-curricular experiences. One such measure of success is Gen-1's 92% 1st-to-2nd-year retention rate — well above the national rate of 62%.
November 24, 2025
Jim Semmelman, CCM ’76, has known show business since his early years working as a child actor in commercials. As a lifelong creative, he has experienced firsthand how a strong education and a relentless work ethic can open doors and shape careers.
November 24, 2025
University of Cincinnati alumni and colleagues remember Professor Emeritus Paul E. Potter as a department of geology legend. Known for his signature bow ties, he was reserved, polite and dedicated to his profession.
November 17, 2025
In the 1960s, a handful of engineering professors at the University of Cincinnati (UC) joined together to form the Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), a group that would eventually become one of the founding pillars of major technology company, Siemens Digital Industries Software. For more than 50 years, Siemens has remained a strong supporter of UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS), supporting students and faculty through cooperative education (co-op), research efforts, software access and more.
November 7, 2025
University of Cincinnati alumni Mohammad H. Qayoumi, MS ’79, MS ’80, MBA ’84, PhD ’83 and Najia Karim, BS ’82, MEd ’83, RD, have made a $4 million gift supporting two of the university’s colleges. A donation from the couple establishes a fund and an endowed chair at the College of Engineering and Applied Science, as well as an endowed chair at the College of Allied Health Sciences.
November 6, 2025
Rachel Hoermann has dreamed of becoming a writer since childhood. But like many who grew up in Ohio’s rust belt, the idea of going to college felt out of reach. For years, she cycled through work that never quite satisfied her creative drive. That changed when she came across a box that once belonged to her father—a discovery that would alter the course of her life.
October 27, 2025
The University of Cincinnati Foundation recognized its Outstanding Philanthropic Volunteer Award honorees at the George Rieveschl Recognition Dinner on Oct. 23, 2025.
