Achieving the high ambitions that President McCormick has set for Rutgers will require the support of the university’s more than 370,000 living alumni as well as significant financial resources. The establishment of the first-ever universitywide alumni association at Rutgers in 2008 is the centerpiece of Dr. McCormick’s plan to reorganize alumni relations, both to enhance the university's service to alumni and to increase alumni loyalty and support.

Private gifts and grants, an increasingly vital part of the university's funding stream, have increased under President McCormick, and annual giving reached $128.6 million in 2009. He oversaw completion of a multiyear fundraising campaign early in his tenure and is working with the Rutgers University Foundation to lay the groundwork for a substantially larger campaign.

In the face of a downward trend in state funding for higher education in New Jersey, Dr. McCormick has helped advocate for partial restoration of proposed cuts as well as increases in certain areas. He has also led efforts to seek increases in federal funding for university research and student aid.