The Pulse – April 2026

Hello, team! 

March was another busy month for the division from AdvanceUGA to Georgia Women Give Spring Weekend to Senior Signature. Thanks to everyone who played a role in these important initiatives, and a special congratulations to our DARing to Level Up Award winners, Sarah Baines, William Draper, Jeff Garmon, Michelle Jones, Shivanee Patel and Daryn Zongrone.

I’d also like to congratulate everyone on another record-breaking Dawg Day of Giving and thank you for your hard work! We reached 13,094 gifts for a total of $8.5 million — an achievement not possible without such a collaborative approach focused on impact. I enjoyed stopping by and seeing so many schools and colleges hosting campus activities to elevate the day. Thank you!

We’re officially in the last quarter of the fiscal year, and I look forward to seeing our continued hard work and collaboration as we work towards reaching our $300 million goal again this year. I want to express my sincere gratitude and thanks for your dedication and commitment. Please continue to think about how we can best support one another during this time, and let me know if I can do anything for you or your team.

With Gratitude,

DARing to Level Up Awards

Congratulations to our second annual DARing to Level Up Award winners. Your excellence in the areas of Leadership, Collaboration and Impact are appreciated by the division and we thank you for your commitment to UGA and our division. Many thanks to everyone who nominated a colleague this year! 

• Leadership – Jeff Garmon and Michelle Jones 

• Collaboration – Daryn Zongrone and William Draper 

• Impact – Shivanee Patel and Sarah Baines

Bulldog 100 Nominations

2027 Bulldog 100 nominations will be opening in mid-April. Be on the lookout for emails to the division with the nomination link, and please encourage our alumni network to nominate Bulldog-owned and led businesses! 

Alumni Awards

Last week, we hosted the annual Alumni Awards luncheon. These annual awards recognize individuals that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to UGA. Learn more about this year’s honorees at alumni.uga.edu/alumniawards. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who works on our Signature programs for another successful event.

Talent Management Update

Public safety is everyone’s responsibility, and that message was reinforced on March 6 when staff at 1 Press Place heard from UGA’s top Public Safety officials: Dr. Dan Silk, Associate Vice President for Public Safety; Jeff Clark, UGA Chief of Police; and Adam Fouche, Interim Associate Vice President for Environmental Safety, Risk, and Resiliency.  Although we hope we never have to use this information, these dedicated public servants provided valuable Active Shooter training for our team. We are grateful to Glenn Allen for coordinating this important presentation, and we look forward to offering additional emergency preparedness workshops for DAR staff.  If you are passionate about this topic or have ideas for future workshops, please reach out to Michelle Carter. If you are interested in coordinating a presentation for your team or unit, please reach out to the UGA Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Latino Alumni Scholarship Fund 

The Latino Alumni Council is closing in on its FY26 goal of reaching $100,000 in cumulative donations to the Latino Alumni Scholarship Fund. To help close the gap, LAC is launching La Foto Más Bella, a photo contest and fundraiser. Follow LAC on IG (@ugalatinoalumni) for more details in preparation for the April launch. Reach out to Erica Lowman if you have any questions. 

Mentor Program Update

Since July 1:

# of mentors – 6,606 (584 new registrations)

# of mentees – 7,551 (2,506 new registrations)

# of connections – 2,750 (includes 16-week, quick chats, and circles)

Bulldog Blocks Campaign Launches Soon

The Annual Giving team will launch a new campaign soon with a goal of building up Bulldog pride while supporting areas across UGA. This campaign invites donors to celebrate being a part of the Bulldog Nation in a fun, hands-on way with a special Hairy Dawg collectible. 

Donors who make a gift of $70 or more to any area of UGA will receive a Bulldog Blocks: Hairy Dawg Edition building set as a thank-you for their support. This desk-friendly collectible lets donors build their own miniature Hairy Dawg that you can love to pieces. 

More details to come as the blocks fall into place!

Dawg Day of Giving Highlights

Our fifth annual Dawg Day of Giving brought in more than 13,094 gifts for a total of $8.5 million to support UGA students and programs, a new single-day record! We surpassed our 12,000 gift goal around 10:30 p.m. (congrats to Realenn Watters on her best guess win!) 

Everyone in the division (and beyond) played key roles in this event – THANK YOU! From the marketing and operations committees, to school/college partners, to Advancement IT and Gift Accounting, to student and alumni volunteers, to staff, faculty and administrators – this was a campus-wide success.  

A few key wins for the day: 

• Gifts were directed to every school/college and numerous divisions 

• Donors hailed from all 50 states  

• 400+ students passed through Tate Student Center to celebrate the day 

• $142,000 was donated thanks to challenges and power hours 

• 1,740 student gifts and 2,460 faculty/staff gifts were acquired 

• 20 tabling events across campus and 3 alumni chapter events across the country – thanks to all areas that hosted events! 

• Over 2.1 million emails and over 17,000 text messages were sent on DDOG. 

You can visit givingday.uga.edu to check out our leaderboards and other details. Questions? Email Sherry Abrams.