University Updates

The Pride of Arizona, the University of Arizona’s marching band, has been named the 2024 recipient of the Sudler Trophy by the John Philip Sousa Foundation, recognizing it as one of the best collegiate marching bands in the country. The band’s high musical standards and innovative marching routines were acknowledged as part of the winning criteria, as was its contribution to advancing college marching band performance standards over a period of years. The award, which a program can only win one time, has been referred to as the Heisman Trophy of the collegiate band world by the Los Angeles Times. 

“On behalf of the entire Pride and the generations of students and previous directors whose countless accomplishments and achievements made this highest honor possible, I am humbled and honored to accept this award,” said Chad Shoopman ’96 ’99, associate professor of music, who is in his ninth year leading the band as the director of athletic bands in the University of Arizona School of Music. 

Also in 2024, the band debuted new uniforms after fundraising and earning a matching grant from the Marshall Foundation. It had been more than a decade since the group marched in new gear.  

Support The Pride of Arizona at give.uafoundation.org/Athletic-Bands.

Sports fans from Tucson and beyond spend tens of millions of dollars attending University of Arizona athletics events, according to a recent study, demonstrating that the Wildcats continue to be a significant economic engine for Pima County and the state.

The study, “Visitor Impacts of Arizona Athletics Events,” was conducted by UArizona Cooperative Extension and the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, housed within the College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences. It analyzed visitor data from the 2023 fiscal year.

The economic impact comes in the form of direct spending from visitors, taxes generated by their purchases and the thousands of jobs supported by UArizona athletics events. Arizonans who travel to Tucson for athletics events spend about $82 million in Pima County, supporting more than 1,340 jobs with a combined income of $44 million. Out-of-state sports fans add an additional $50 million in visitor spending to Arizona’s economy, supporting 840 jobs with a combined income of $33 million.

When spending from all visitors was tallied, including spending by local residents and students, Arizona Athletics was found to account for about $265 million in economic output for the state.

Dante Lauretta ’93 steered NASA’s historic, Wildcat-led OSIRIS-REx mission for more than a decade, working alongside more than 100 scientists to bring a sample of the asteroid Bennu to Earth.

The feat — achieved Sept. 24, 2023, when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere, dropping the sample via parachute into the Utah desert — was one for the record books.

Now, the public is learning the story of the mission in a new book by Lauretta.

Published in March, “The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System” recounts the mission and Lauretta’s own experiences as principal investigator.

The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law has begun construction on a project to modernize its facilities and support its advocacy program.

The initiative, dubbed A New Day in Court, is scheduled for completion in fall 2024. It includes two new state-of-the-art courtrooms as well as classrooms and lobby spaces. Renaming the advocacy program to honor Thomas Mauet, professor emeritus and renowned advocacy expert, also is part of the project.

The A New Day in Court initiative will help prepare students for the ever-evolving legal landscape. Nearly 150 donors have supported the entirely community-funded project, raising just shy of $4.5 million to date toward an overall $4.9 million project goal. Major gifts have been led by alumni, friends and firms.

“This groundbreaking marks a significant milestone for our college,” says Dean Marc Miller. “As we embark on this journey, we are not just renovating physical spaces; we are investing in the future of legal education and bolstering our nationally ranked advocacy program, aligning with our mission to produce well-rounded, skilled advocates who will make meaningful contributions to the legal profession."

Thomas Lovejoy established the field of biodiversity and was recognized internationally as one of the most important ecologists of the modern era. He died in 2021; now, a $5 million gift from the Thomas Lovejoy Amazon Biodiversity Center to the University of Arizona will help expand the legacy of his work.

The gift will establish the Lovejoy Center for Bridging Biodiversity, Conservation Science, and Policy at the Arizona Institute for Resilience as well as the Thomas E. Lovejoy Endowed Chair. Rachel Gallery, a professor in the UArizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment, is the center’s new director and inaugural holder of the endowed chair.

The center will advance research and conservation efforts, educate future conservation scientists and leaders, and develop a broader understanding of the Earth’s biosphere.