Posted: Saturday, October 27, 2007 12:00 am
First university-wide fundraiser already past halfway point
By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter
Oregon State University aims to raise $625 million in its first ever university-wide campaign, officials announced Friday. The money will provide new facilities, hire more professors and fund more scholarships. About a third of the total will be used for endowments.
In a news release, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said that the global impact of such an investment in OSU is that lives around the world will be improved by new technologies and advances in energy development, natural resources, preventative health care and other fields.
"As of today, donors to the campaign for OSU have invested $350 million in this university's future," OSU President Ed Ray said to a crowd gathered Friday afternoon at the LaSells Stewart Center.
The silent phase of the university's fundraiser began in 2004. Organizers hope to gather the remaining funds by July 2011.
OSU is the only Pac-10 school that has never before launched a comprehensive fundraising campaign, Ray said.
The University of Oregon unveiled its $600 million campaign in 2005.
While the effort is uncharted ground for Corvallis, the man leading the campaign has a wealth of experience. Mike Goodwin, president and CEO of the OSU Foundation, organized a $1 billion fundraising campaign at Georgetown University from 1994 to 2001.
In a previous interview, Goodwin said OSU had to prioritize a $1.2 billion "wish list" from departments, including $700 million in building proposals. The top priority was creating a new Linus Pauling Science Center, for which $77 million has been raised.
Sixty-two donors already have given more than $1 million each to the overall campaign, including Duane McDougall, who is on the campaign's steering committee. He is a 1974 graduate and the retired chief operations officer of Willamette Industries.
"Buildings are nice, but I wanted to give back to OSU in a way that fit for me when I grew up," McDougall said. That meant working hard to save enough for college. So he provided an endowment fund of $1 million that will provide scholarships for five or six students every year from Tigard and Tualatin, near where McDougall grew up. The awards are based on financial need and academic ability.
The campaign seeks $100 million for scholarships and fellowships, and $52 million of that money already has been raised. Ray, the first person in his family to attend college, said that was stressed from the first day the campaign was conceived.
McDougall hailed the campaign as a symbol of how OSU has changed. For 20 to 25 years, graduates didn't brag about going to the university because its credibility had dropped, he said. Starting with Paul Risser, Ray's predecessor, there was more vision in the administration and correspondingly more pride in OSU, he said.
The quiet phase of the current campaign was used to test its viability and to gather momentum.
Ray defended the second-largest chunk of the campaign - the $129.5 million that is being set aside for athletics - by noting that athletic donations often lead to academic gifts. Out of OSU's 32,000 athletic program donors, roughly half also give to other university projects, he said. Donors who gave $104 million to OSU sports also gave $151 million to academics in 2001-2007.
Donations to athletics also make up only 20 percent of the campaign, while the academic side of the university represents 80 percent, Ray said.
Current contributions include $75 million in legacy gifts made before July 2004, such as some donations for Reser Stadium and the Kelley Engineering Center, Goodwin said.
The university previously considered doing a campus-wide campaign in 2001, and those donations were intended to be part of that, according to officials. However, Ray said, the campus-wide fundraising plans were shelved then amid doubts about their feasibility.
Other gifts included in the current sum are $21 million from Louis Bates Acheson for the College of Veterinary Medicine and $8 million to create the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families.
More than 400 donors already have given $100,000 or more, and 45 percent of those contributors are from out-of- state.
About 500 donors were dressed up for a black tie and gown dinner in the Memorial Union Quad after the launch.
The campaign kickoff included speeches by OSU faculty and students on the world-shaping efforts of the university.
"They portrayed the impact so well. … Everything we do here is so critically important," said Sally Francis, dean of the graduate school, who said she got choked up.
The event ended with the OSU Marching Band entering the auditorium and playing the school fight song, donors and faculty clapping along.
"I truly believe the best is yet to come for this amazing place, Oregon State University," Ray said, a moment before.
Campaign highlights Pauling center
By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter
The centerpiece of the Campaign for OSU is a new Linus Pauling Science Center, for which the university has received $77 million in private and public donations.
The center - which would house university chemists, the Linus Pauling Institute, classroom and lab space - is aimed at advancing teaching and research in preventative health care, chemistry and the life sciences.
A new $62.5 million, 120,000-square-foot building for the center, the most expensive academic facility ever for OSU, would be constructed west of Nash Hall.
"This building will be an enormous boost for the Linus Pauling Institute and for science in general at OSU," said Balz Frei, institute director.
He said that he hopes that construction will start next fall and be completed by late 2010.
The Linus Pauling Institute's primary research focus is the role of vitamins and minerals in promoting health. Pauling was a pioneer in the field, called orthomolecular medicine. He encouraged people to greatly increase their intake of vitamin C. Other research projects at the institute focus on aging, heart disease and cancer.
"Being able to get that program its own facility will enable us to draw additional support for it," said Mike Goodwin, president and CEO of the OSU Foundation. There are plans to hire more researchers focused on healthy aging and longevity.
Currently, Pauling Institute scientists are scattered through departments on campus. Working under one roof will foster collaboration and innovation, said Stephen Lawson, the institute's administrative officer.
Facility improvements also will benefit 10,000 students of chemistry.
Private donors, including some of OSU's most prominent contributors, provided half the cost of the Pauling Center, while the Oregon Legislature allocated matching bonds, Goodwin said.
The donations include $20 million from the Valley Foundation of Oakland, Calif., which was created by OSU alumni Wayne and Gladys Valley. Al and Pat Reser contributed $10.65 million.
"A facility like this will attract top researchers and students and help find answers to some of our biggest challenges," said Tammy Valley, president of the Valley Foundation, in an OSU news release.
The Pauling Institute, founded in 1973 in California, has been at OSU since 1996.
Linus Pauling was a 1922 graduate of Oregon Agricultural College who eventually became one of the world's most prominent scientists. In 1954, Pauling won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on chemical bonding. He won the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize for his many years of activism against nuclear testing and proliferation.
Though he wasn't a year-round presence in Corvallis after he graduated, the university's Special Collections in the Valley Library contain 500,000 items that belonged to him and his wife, peace activist Ava Helen Pauling.
A two-day conference on Pauling starts Monday at OSU, and the annual Pauling peace lecture is Thursday night.
By the numbers
Priorities
Programs n $226.2 million (36.2 percent)
Facilities and equipment n $126.3 million (20.2 percent)
Scholarships and fellowships n $100 million (16 percent)
Faculty positions n $97.5 million (15.6 percent)
Private grants n $75 million (12 percent)
Goals by unit
(in millions)
Engineering ……………………… $138
Athletics ……………………….. $129.5
Science ……………………………… $73
Business …………………………. $36.5
Central initiatives ……………….. $35
Veterinary Medicine …………. $34.5
Linus Pauling Institute ………… $33
Forestry ………………………….. $31.5
Agricultural Sciences ……….. $30.5
Liberal Arts …………………….. $16.5
Health & Human Sciences ….. $15
Ocean & Earth Sciences ……… $12
Education & 4-H …………….. $10.5
Emerging Initiatives …………… $10
OSU-Cascades Campus ……… $7.5
Pharmacy …………………………… $7
OSU Alumni Association ………. $5
Check out Kyle Odegard's blog about the Campaign for OSU at gazettetimes.com. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.