Because the World Needs Big Ideas
…your support was the biggest idea of all.
A Big Thank You!
We did it! In its 125th year, Washington State University celebrates the success of WSU’s largest fundraising effort to date—the $1 billion Campaign for Washington State University: Because the World Needs Big Ideas.
Fueled by these achievements and the shared vision and support of its faculty, staff, students, alumni, and industry partners, WSU is poised today to redefine what it means to be a land-grant research university tomorrow and the next 125 years look brighter than ever.
To everyone who contributed, thank you for empowering big ideas and for inspiring tomorrow’s Washington State University.
Total raised during The Campaign for WSU
$1.065 billion
- Students $338 million
- Faculty & Research $383 million
- Programs & Facilities $344 million
- TOTAL: $1.065 billion
A Big Challenge
Begun July 1, 2006 and successfully completed June 30, 2015, The Campaign for Washington State University is the largest comprehensive capital campaign in WSU history. The goals were simple—to raise awareness and support for WSU’s top priorities; to improve access to higher education for Washington citizens; to advance education, research, and service; and to help secure WSU’s place as a leading land-grant university.
Ambitious? Absolutely, but the Cougar Nation stepped up to meet the challenge head on. More than 206,000 donors sent a powerful message that Washingtonians care about Washington State University and its mission to create a brighter future.
Because the World Needs Big Ideas…
Big Opportunities for Students
Among WSU’s most important contributions is education. Our students come from diverse perspectives, ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds, but all share the warmth and support of the WSU experience. Your support for scholarships and fellowships during the campaign created thousands of opportunities for students to learn, grow, and flourish at WSU.
Big Investments for Faculty & Research
If students are the lifeblood of a university, then faculty are its heart. WSU’s outstanding faculty are teachers, investigators, innovators, and problem solvers for some of the most complex issues that we face every day. Your investment in WSU’s talented faculty and their research positions WSU firmly on the cutting-edge of discovery.
Big Impacts for Programs & Facilities
Beyond our classrooms and labs, opportunities that strengthen the mind as well as the body are a hallmark of the WSU experience. And as opportunities grow on each of WSU’s campuses and at locations throughout the state, so too does the need to create the modern spaces where learning, discovery, and collaboration will thrive.
Your generous support during the campaign fueled the unique activities that make WSU a truly special experience and enabled the construction and renovation of state-of-the-art facilities where those activities can happen.
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Cougar Athletics
To be competitive in the Conference of Champions requires considerable ongoing investment in facilities, programs, and student-athletes. During The Campaign for Washington State University, generous alumni and friends answered the call, contributing more than $85 million in private support for Cougar Athletic programs and facilities.
Renovated facilities, including Martin Stadium and Cougar Baseball’s Bailey-Brayton Field, and new facilities, like the Football Operations Building and Palouse Ridge Golf Course, were made possible in part through generous gifts from Cougar Nation during the Campaign. The impact of private support on Cougar Athletics goes beyond facilities. Each year, hundreds of student-athletes benefit from scholarships made possible by WSU donors. Still more contribution were made to purchase equipment, update facilities, and help fund academic and support programs that benefit every varsity athlete at WSU.
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Ste. Michelle Wine Estates WSU Wine Science Center
It has been said that every great wine region in the world has a center for education, research and outreach associated with it. Now, thanks to the private support of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and a $7.4 million commitment from the state’s growers and winemakers through the Washington State Wine Commission during The Campaign for WSU, Washington’s wine industry has one of the most technologically advanced wine science centers in the world to call its own.
The new teaching and research facility located on the WSU Tri-Cities campus features research laboratories and classrooms, a research and teaching winery, a two-acre vineyard, and greenhouses to train technical personnel to support Washington’s expanding wine industry—the nation’s second largest premium wine producer in the United States. It includes meeting and event space with a large atrium, Washington wine library and conference rooms. Industry members, students and researchers from around the globe will be able to use the center as a gathering place to spark innovation, fuel economic development and support local, regional, national and international collaboration and provide a catalyst for research breakthroughs.
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Frank Innovation Zone
With support during The Campaign for WSU from the Raintree Foundation established by Harold R. Frank in 1993, a new Frank Innovation Zone has been established at WSU to foster the development of entrepreneurial skills in more students and provide them with access to a wide range of hands-on learning experiences.
A part of the Harold Frank Engineering Entrepreneurship Institute—which is operated cooperatively between the Carson College of Business and the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture since 2004—the Frank Innovation Zone provides a centrally-located, multidisciplinary, collaborative space and tools where WSU students can translate their ideas into working designs build class projects, or pursue club activities. Located on the ground floor of Dana Hall on WSU’s Pullman campus, the area includes fabrication tools, testing and measurement equipment, storage areas, supply store, club and collaborative meeting spaces, and a supervised “makerspace” with supportive technology for creative innovation.
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WSU Organic Farm
Washington State University is a leader for research, teaching and extension in organic and sustainable agriculture thanks to investments made by alumni Chuck and Louanna Eggert. Their family’s commitment expanded the WSU Organic Farm on its Pullman campus from four acres to nearly 30 acres, creating the largest organic teaching farm on a university campus in the United States.
“This is a game changer for the program,” said John Reganold, WSU Regents Professor of Soil Sciences and Agroecology who leads the university’s organic agriculture major. “This investment by the Eggert family sets the stage for WSU to lead not only the nation, but the world in the field of organic agriculture.”
A Big Difference WSU-Wide
With private support designated to 3,358 different projects, initiatives, priorities, and funding areas, virtually every corner of WSU benefits from the investments made during The Campaign for WSU. And for every investment, the citizens, industries, and communities across our state benefit, too.
Twenty areas of fundraising focus were generously supported. In addition to the colleges, campuses, and units listed below, $44 million was raised to support university initiatives.