#9 The OSU Foundation

Since its birth under Oregon State College President August Leroy Strand on Oct. 15, 1947, with the assistance and vision of three alumni—Robert M. Kerr, Edwin B. Aldrich and E.C. Simmons—the OSU Foundation has played a critical role in shaping the destiny of the university in ways the founders could never have imagined.

An endowment that began with $5, then $21,000 in 1961, now exceeds contributions of over $50 million annually, with combined assets of nearly $470 million. Earnings are distributed annually, and it is precisely here that the OSU Foundation has carved its place in history, by providing financial support to create academic and research possibilities not generally available through state support.

Examples abound. Prior to 1984, OSU had no endowed faculty chairs. That year, thanks to a gift by world-renowned chemist and OSU graduate Milton Harris, the university’s first endowed chair was established in materials science. Today, over 50 of these prestigious faculty positions serve the university, its students, teaching and research and help ensure Oregon State’s place as the research university of the state of Oregon and one of the leading land-grant schools in the country.

Other milestones include:

1948:	Foundation funds build housing for the campus Cyclotron.
1949:	The Azalea House, a women’s housing cooperative is constructed; Foundation gifts help construct Parker (now Reser) Stadium.
1980:	Private support developed through the Foundation helps pay for the construction of the LaSells Stewart Center.
1983:	OSU Presidential Scholarships are awarded for the first time, thus significantly enhancing the university’s ability to recruit and retain the region’s best young scholars.
1987:	For the first time, Foundation expenditures to the university reach $10 million annually.
1988:	OSU’s Trysting Tree Golf Course is dedicated.
1989:	Total expenditures since 1947 exceed $100 million.
1991:	Total expenditures exceed $200 million; Parker Stadium undergoes another renovation.
1992:	New Agricultural and Life Sciences Building is equipped and furnished with private gifts to the Foundation; Valley Gymnastics Center and University Theater projects are completed; Mercedes Bates Family Study Center is constructed.
1995:	Annual expenditures exceed $30 million for the first time.
1996:	OSU is ranked No. 1 among all Oregon colleges and universities in private donations.
1997:	The Foundation provides the support to renovate the Valley End Zone Complex; the CH2M HILL Alumni Center is constructed with 100 percent private contributions.
1999:	The Valley Library and Richardson Hall are dedicated.
2000:	The Foundation provides the support to build new baseball and softball facilities, plus a new complex for soccer.
2002:	The H. Dean Pape’ Campanile is dedicated in the library quad.
2005:	Foundation gifts help renovate Weatherford Hall and establish the Austin Entrepreneurial Program; the Kelley Engineering Center is constructed and an annex for small animals is added to vet medicine’s Magruder Hall; an $80 million renovation of Reser Stadium is financed through a joint effort of OSU Athletics and the Foundation.

Through these and many other achievements, the OSU Foundation has, according to its Web site, assisted the university in “growing from a well-respected Land Grant college to a premier teaching and research university with a Land Grant, Sea Grant, Space Grant and Sun Grant mission. The individual colleges that comprise OSU have established international reputations for excellence through major research advancements, wide-reaching professional publications, and high-caliber students graduating into the marketplace.” How true.