Endowment Impact Stories

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. 

Ohio Innocence Project 

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 / Impact House

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%.

Other Recent Impact News

1

Cincinnati Opera and CCM to workshop 'Lalovavi' through Opera...

March 7, 2024

Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) have announced the next opera to be workshopped through their joint program, Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW): Lalovavi, with music by Kevin Day, libretto by Tifara Brown, and stage direction and dramaturgy by Kimille Howard.

2

Generous alumnus leaves lasting legacy for UC DAAP students,...

February 26, 2024

In a heartwarming tale of alumni generosity, Randal Houts, a 1986 graduate from the University of Cincinnati, has taken a unique approach to ensure his legacy lives on in the halls of UC's School of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). Houts recently designated his Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to UC, specifically for an endowed scholarship fund for architecture students and the DAAP Library's ambitious project to digitize Cincinnati archival materials.

3

Second-year student works to advance medical technology and...

February 23, 2024

“There is no point of waiting to be an upperclassman to try to take on a leadership role.” These are the words of self-given advice that have guided University of Cincinnati student Adolphus Addison – advice that he also hopes to extend towards fellow young engineers. Currently in his second year studying biomedical engineering at UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, Addison has already amassed an impressive list of accomplishments.

4

New York Times spotlights East Coast premiere of 'Blind...

February 23, 2024

The New York Times recently featured the East Coast premiere of "Blind Injustice," an opera based on true exonerations achieved by the Ohio Innocence Project. The production opened on Feb. 16 , 2024, at Peak Performances at Montclair State University. Premiered in 2019 at Cincinnati Opera, the opera was first workshopped through Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW), a collaboration between Cincinnati Opera and UC College-Conservatory of Music.

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