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Campus Currents

A $10 Million Investment in the Future

Is it hard to give away $10 million? Not when you have something that's really worth investing in, according to Peter Paul, a financier who graduated from UNH in 1967.

Paul, a Troy, N.H., native who earned his undergraduate degree in business administration, has given $10 million to something that he's sure is worth investing in: the University of New Hampshire. The gift will establish the Peter T. Paul Chair in Space Science and the Dr. Samuel Paul Chair in Developmental Psychology.

"This gift will enable the university to attract the world's most outstanding scholars and scientists to two interdisciplinary fields in which UNH already holds national and international prominence," said President Joan Leitzel when she announced the gift in December.

Peter Paul
Peter Paul '67 is funding two chairs at UNH, one in space science and the other in developmental psychology.

Paul is the former president and CEO of Headlands Mortgage Company. Founded by Paul in 1986, Headlands became one of the premier wholesale mortgage-lending institutions in the country. After leading Headlands through a successful IPO in February of 1998 that raised more than $110 million for the company, Paul negotiated the subsequent merger with GreenPoint Financial Corp. Announced in December of 1998, the deal was valued at approximately $475 million. Paul continues to serve GreenPoint Financial as a consultant and as a member of the board of directors.

"My undergraduate education at the University of New Hampshire has benefited me throughout my life," Paul observes. "I believe it is important to invest in higher educational institutions that will shape the leaders who will create a strong future for our nation. You invest in things you know and you invest in people. I have great confidence in the leadership provided by President Leitzel and Provost David Hiley and in their vision for the university."

The Peter T. Paul Chair in Space Science will help the university's Space Science Center to compete in a select tier of institutions capable of defining and executing complete space missions. The funding will also link space physics and climate change studies, another university program of excellence.

The chair in developmental psychology, established in memory of Paul's father, Dr. Samuel E. Paul, will build on the university's strength in three specific areas of research: child development, children at risk and the biological bases of social stress. It will also provide assistance in the development of state policy and will greatly enhance undergraduate and graduate training in these areas.

The gift brings the total of gifts and pledges received through the university's Next Horizon campaign to $85.5 million. The goal of the five-year campaign, which is scheduled to run through June 2004, is $100 million.

--Kim Billings '81 and Sarah Aldag

Peter Paul '67 is funding two chairs at UNH, one in space science and the other in developmental psychology.

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