Several professorships, interfaculty programs, library projects and science initiatives lag behind the rest of the campaign and may not reach their goals by the campaign's official end in December.

The campaign aims to establish 40 new professorships, but it seems unlikely that the University will reach this goal by the end of the year.

A grand quest

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For University officials, the idea that the campaign's once-unbelievable goal is in sight comes as a tremendous relief.

Rudenstine admits to having had doubts at the campaign's naissance. The largest capital campaign he had ever worked on before the Harvard campaign had a goal of only $350 million--far less than this campaign's goal for FAS alone.

Last year University officials began changing their strategy to encourage donors to give to areas that lagged behind and educating donors about the benefits of less glamorous gifts.

FAS lagged behind then as it does now, with $48 million left to raise in June of this year. Always sticking points, the libraries, the professorships and the president's special fund were hard sells.

Four years into the campaign, in June 1998, the library fund was at only 44 percent of its goal--despite Katherine B. Loker's $17 million jumpstart gift in spring 1998.