You may remember a few years ago when Syracuse University started the very ambitious, very lofty goal of raising $1 billion dollars Doctor Evil-style and we all looked at each other and said, "Yeah right." Well, jokes on us cause SU got paid yesterday.

Syracuse University today announced that it has surpassed its goal for the most ambitious fundraising effort in the institution’s history. With more than three months remaining until its conclusion on Dec. 31, 2012, The Campaign for Syracuse University has surpassed its goal of $1 billion. Through the generosity of more than 60,000 individual donors, including trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, and supporters, the Campaign has raised a total of $1,008,612,731 as of Aug. 31

The Campaign’s $1 billion goal was set by the Board of Trustees and Chancellor Cantor in 2005, and is nearly triple that of any previous fundraising goal in the University’s history. A record 191 gifts have been made at the $1 million level or more, including 30 gifts of $5 million or more, led by the nearly $33 million commitment from the Newhouse family. Overall, the amount raised by the current campaign is nearly double the funds raised in the two prior campaigns combined. Key to this success: the SU Board of Trustees, whose commitments account for more than $275 million, or 27 percent of the Campaign’s current total. Trustee giving in The Campaign for Syracuse University exceeds the aggregate total of giving from Trustees over the history of the University.

You know what this means? iPads for everyone!

As part of this fundraising goal, New York's College Team is going to put its money where it's taxicab slogans are and open a hub in Manhattan:

Syracuse University unveiled plans to open the Fisher Center, a new SU hub in New York City, as part of its billion-dollar campaign announcement Thursday.

The center will provide opportunities for students from all schools and colleges at SU to study abroad in NYC. It’s named after Winston Fisher, a 1996 graduate of SU and trustee.

So where is the rest of that money going?

• $177 million to significantly increase the number of scholarships and fellowships to attract students of merit who demonstrate financial need, with more than 350 new scholarships established, including the Louise and Howard Phanstiel Scholars and the Frederic N. Schwartz Scholarship Fund;
  
• $150 million to endow deanships, chairs and professorships, and to attract and retain world-class scholars, more than doubling the number of endowed professorships from 48 to 99, including the Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professorship in Aging, the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy, the Peter Horvitz Chair in Journalism Innovation, the Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership and the Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics;
  
• $400 million to advance interdisciplinary teaching, research and community engagement initiatives such as the JPMorgan Chase Global Enterprise Technology Partnership, the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, the Lerner Center for Public Health and Promotion and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management;
  
• $160 million to enhance teaching and research facilities and provide state-of-the-art technology on campus, such as the new home of the College of Law Dineen Hall,currently under construction on campus, the Life Science Complex and Newhouse III;
  
• $93 million for the Fund for Syracuse, including gifts to Deans’ Funds in each of the schools and colleges; and
  
• $28 million to be designated.

And of course, your check is in the mail. Should be there any day now...

*Yes they most certainly will.