I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your help in the Campaign for Colorado State. Today, we announced that we have officially reached our campaign goal of $500M — 6 months before the official end of the Campaign. This just wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of nearly everyone on this campus — and the generosity of many of you.

What’s this mean for CSU?

• 485 new scholarships
• 16 new endowed chairs and professorships
• 40 new or renovated buildings
• 430 people have made plans to include CSU in their wills or estates, and
• 15,300 students are now actively receiving CSU scholarships…

keeping alive the Land Grant University dream that ability and drive determine one’s future — not social class.

But I think the impact of the campaign is greater. I think it’s changed how we see ourselves, changed what we see that we’re capable of. We now know what private giving can do for a public university — the doors that are opened the opportunities that are created. And these opportunities are needed now more than ever as our society struggles to determine the future of the world’s greatest system of public higher education.

Although we know that when a student graduates from CSU, they return $10 to the state’s tax coffers for every dollar invested in their education, the real benefit is much greater: an educated, productive citizenry capable of leadership in a free society. That’s the heart of what it means to be a Land Grant University, and that’s why private fund raising matters at a public university today.

This Campaign was a first for CSU — but it’s also just the beginning. There’s a lot of work left to be done, and our future colleagues and students deserve our best efforts to do it.

Thanks again for your support of the Campaign. I couldn’t be prouder of all of your efforts and accomplishments. Have a great weekend.

– tony

Dr. Tony Frank