Dear university colleague:

I am grateful to you – our university leaders, including our endowed faculty position holders and coaches – for the many ways we have advanced Oregon State University’s mission together so far this academic year.

In an effort to keep you apprised of the Foundation’s activities, I’m pleased to share a snapshot of a few of the things on our minds as we close out the third quarter.

Special thanks to Director of Transdisciplinary Research Julie Risien and our own Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications Molly Brown for their work on our campaign roadshow event series, “Believe It: An Evening with OSU Faculty.” This series, which will occur in the Bay Area, Bend, Corvallis, Portland and Seattle, provides us an opportunity to showcase exceptional faculty while inspiring our donors to further engage with the campaign and support our students, faculty and programs.

OSUF’s mission by the numbers

I. Inspire investment – Closed out the calendar year strong

As of December 31, our donors have given $102.2 million toward our baseline goal of $147 million for the year (stretch goal = $180 million). This is excellent news and terrific momentum. We are $20 million ahead in giving compared to this time last year ($79.7 million) and our five-year average ($80 million).

II. Engage our community – Growing our presence in Oregon, Washington and California

Guided by the OSU Foundation’s strategic plan, we are focusing our in-person efforts on “Three States that Matter” because 70% of our alumni and donors live in Oregon, Washington and California, and it is important that we are present in their communities. Among other events, so far this academic year, we hosted “Believe It: An Evening with OSU Faculty” events in Corvallis and Seattle for current and potential donor audiences and “Dam Good Connections” events for broad groups of alumni in San Diego and Seattle. More exciting events are on the calendar for spring!

III. Steward resources – The 2024 calendar year was strong for endowment growth

Our endowment closed out the 2024 calendar year with a market value of $940.1 million, down slightly from $952.82 million in November (the highest point in our history). This is exciting progress and puts us closer than ever to the important $1 billion milestone.

Three new Lifetime Trustees, the Foundation’s highest honor for outstanding volunteer service, were celebrated in downtown Portland on Feb. 20: Bert Loughmiller, College of Engineering, ’64; Judith Atwood Youde, College of Agricultural Sciences, ’62, and Jim Youde, College of Business, ’62. Read the story.

Recapping the OSU Foundation’s winter board meeting

OSU Foundation Board of Trustees held its winter board meeting in downtown Portland from Feb. 20-21. There were three thematic goals for the meeting:

I. Oregon State University in Portland – Learned about the university’s emerging priorities in the Portland metro area, home to 61,000 OSU alumni. We were grateful to be joined by: the mayor of Portland, and OSU alumnus, Keith Wilson, College of Business, ’86; Faisal Osman, College of Liberal Arts, ’24, constituent services lead for the Office of the Mayor; and Andrew Hoan, president and CEO of the Portland Metro Chamber.

II. Economic Development and Industry Relations (EDIR) – Food and Beverage Sector: Engaged with Rebecca Robinson, associate vice president for EDIR, and learned about the university’s four priority sectors (semiconductors/tech, clean tech/clean energy, forest products/mass timber/natural resources and food and beverages). Special thanks to Mike Thelin, founder of Bolted Consulting, Jessica F. Elkan, executive director of the James Beard Public Market, and Dave Dillon, president of Food Northwest, for joining us for a deep dive on the food and beverage industry.

III. Student Success and Oregon State University Ecampus: Met six impressive Ecampus students/recent alumni and learned about their experiences. Thank you to panelists including Margie Johnson, undergraduate, College of Forestry; Kaitlin Lee, undergraduate, College of Business; Marcus R. Langford, College of Education, Ed.D. ’25; Terrence Scott, graduate student, College of Education; and Mikayla Bilyeu, College of Health, ’25. Watch highlights from the panel.

In addition to these topics and our regular board business, we celebrated three new Lifetime Trustees (see photo caption) and said farewell to Provost Edward Feser, who is leaving OSU to serve as president of Saint Louis University, and Eric Schoenstein, College of Business, ’88, who has competed his terms of service on the Foundation board. We will miss both of them and thank them for their contributions.

Special thanks to OSUF Board Chair Penny Atkins, College of Business, ’79, for her leadership. We are also grateful to university leaders for participating in our meetings: Jayathi Murthy, president; Carla Hoʻā, vice president, Finance and Administration; Rob Odom, vice president, University Relations and Marketing; Lisa L. Templeton, vice provost of Oregon State University’s Division of Educational Ventures; Kris Elliott, OSU’s new vice provost for Extension and engagement and director of OSU Extension Service; and Rebecca Robinson, associate vice president, Economic Development and Industry Relations.

Additionally, the OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors also met in Portland this quarter. Their meetings took place in the Food Innovation Center as well as the OSU Portland Center. In addition to discussing OSU in Portland, they focused on the importance of launching new networks to engage alumni, particularly for career and professional industries. The OSU Foundation hosted a reception at the Oregon Historical Society during their meeting; view photos of the event.

SAVE THE DATE: On May 7, join the OSU Foundation and Office of the Provost for the 2025 Faculty Excellence Dinner, which honors the university's exceptional faculty, including 2025 University Distinguished Professor Melissa Cheyney, new holders of endowed faculty positions and fellows of prestigious scholarly academies. Formal invitation to follow.

Implementing our strategic plans

I am pleased to share a few of the many ways the OSU Foundation supports the university’s goals in Prosperity Widely Shared: The Oregon State Plan:

1. Oregon State will be a university focused on big discoveries that drive big solutions – “Doubling research expenditures”

We are partnering with the Office of the Provost on a fourth Provost’s Faculty Match program, designed to incentivize the creation of endowed faculty positions. (We have a total of 190 as of June 30, 2024.) Nearly three-quarters of the available incentive funds from the Provost’s Faculty Match have been allocated to support endowed faculty position funds in support of the university’s priority research areas (climate science, clean energy, biotechnology and integrated health, and robotics). So far 16 donors have made gifts of $250,000 or more totaling over $9.6 million, and there are six open conversations with donors about new faculty endowments, including three over $1 million.

For more information on the program, please contact my colleague Marlys Amundson at marlys.amundson@osufoundation.org.

2. Oregon State will be a university where every student graduates – “Increasing six-year graduation rates to 80%”

Last month, we launched a new Student Success Donor Society for the 750 donors who have given $50,000 or more in their lifetime to support OSU students. See the next section of this newsletter for more details.

(As a reminder, also this academic year, we launched the Mighty Beavers network for OSU alumni employees.)

3. Oregon State will be a university that fuels a thriving world in every dimension – “Become a force for economic growth in our state”

I’m pleased to share that we recently named our new Senior Director of Development for Corporate Relations, Marlys Amundson. (Yes, the same Marlys leading the Provost’s Faculty Match!)

Marlys has been with the OSU Foundation since 2007. She is the perfect person to support the university’s efforts alongside Rebecca Robinson.

As a leading international research university, it is essential that we at Oregon State University engage our global community. President Murthy and I enjoyed meeting alumni, parents and friends at an OSU reception in Taipei on February 23.

Recapping OSU’s visit to Asia

I’m pleased to share that President Jayathi Murthy and I had a successful trip to Bangkok, Taipei and Seoul last month, in partnership with INTO OSU.

The trip has five strategic components:

1. General receptions for alumni, donors and accepted students
2. Individual meetings with donors and potential donors 
3. Visits to partner universities to discuss student exchanges, joint faculty research projects and OSU programs of interest to grad students
4. Visits to high schools/meetings with prospective students and their parents and/or agents
5. Meetings with the press, resulting in several articles

Asia is central to OSU.  We have more alumni in Asia than anywhere else outside the U.S., with the cities of Bangkok, Jakarta, Taipei and Seoul leading the way in numbers of alumni.

We are grateful to President Murthy for her commitment to waving the OSU flag around the world. Her interest in engaging with our international alumni will allow us to recommit to annual and predictable visits to the region.

We are grateful to Vice Provost for Student Affairs Dan Larson for moderating our live panel of outstanding students: Cassidy Ochoa – College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Honors College; José Naranjo Méndez – College of Engineering, College of Agricultural Sciences; and Kate Metcalf – College of Business. Watch the video.

Launching our new Student Success Donor Society

We were delighted to inaugurate our newly established Student Success Donor Society for donors who champion students. This new recognition society celebrates a community of more than 750 donors who support students through cumulative gifts of $50,000 or more for scholarships, fellowships or other student programs. We were pleased to have 175 registrants, including 27 Harris Society donors, for our kick-off event – a virtual student panel on March 6.

At Oregon State, students have always been our highest priority. With President Murthy’s vision for the university’s future outlined in Prosperity Widely Shared, the entire university community – including our donors, alumni, parents and friends – must remain steadfast in our commitment to becoming a university where “every student graduates.” As President Murthy states, our immediate goal is to increase our six-year graduation rate to 80%.

This new recognition society provides an opportunity to foster community among donors who share our passion for students. A key element of this donor society will be creating opportunities for members to hear directly from OSU students about their experiences.

This January, the New York Times once again featured Endowed Chair and Director of the Linus Pauling Institute Emily Ho’s expertise on nutrition. She recently spoke at our reception, “Aging Well and Optimum Health,” at the Clark County Food Bank, focusing on how diet influences DNA, health and the immune system throughout our lives. Read the article.

News

» Opinion piece in the Oregonian, An investment in higher education is an investment in Oregon’s economy

» Street Family generously endows men’s soccer head coach position to be held by Jarred Brookins

» Q&A with Tyler Quinn, a graduate student and scholarship recipient in the College of Health

» “Oregon on the Record” podcast episode about OSU’s Tech Hub, led by Tom Weller, the Gaulke Chair in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

» Profile of OSU Presidential Scholar Luke Donaldson, ’25, who studies natural resources at OSU-Cascades

» Meet students in the first Finish in Four cohort

» Profiles of the 2024-25 PRAx Student Fellows

» New College of Engineering lighting lab opens doors to innovation, thanks to donor Jay Culbertson, ’72

» Nor’Wester Professor of Fermentation Science Thomas Shellhammer explains how climate is changing the taste of beer in this BBC article

» In case you missed it, watch the university’s New Year’s video, originally produced for our OSU President’s Dinner, featuring OSU President Jayathi Murthy with Jen-Hsun Huang, College of Engineering, ’84, ’09 (Hon. Ph.D.), founder and CEO of NVIDIA, and Steven Jackson, College of Health, ’20, former Beavers football player, star NFL running back and OSU Foundation Honorary Trustee

» Watch the OSU Alumni Association’s New Year’s video featuring OSU’s gymnastics team and Bernice

Dam Proud Day, taking place this April 30, is a 24-hour giving day that unites Beavers worldwide to celebrate Oregon State University, connect with each other and support over 100 programs, causes and student-led organizations.

Thank you, and opportunities to further engage

I want to close with my gratitude for all the ways you strengthen Oregon State University. Additionally, check out this “Top 10” list for how you or your constituents can be part of the Believe It campaign and build momentum for OSU.

Two important opportunities are coming up:

• Dam Proud Day, OSU’s day of giving, is April 30. Thank you for all the ways your unit is supporting the day, which will include opportunities to amplify giving through challenge gifts and a special livestream called “Dam Proud Day Live” that features students, faculty and university leaders.
• Participate in OSU Days of Service in May by logging your volunteer hours for any organization or cause.

Thank you! Please let me know if you have questions.

Sincerely, 

Shawn L. Scoville
President & CEO