UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) has raised $20,123,741 and helped the University achieve record-breaking success in its recently concluded campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence.” June 30 marked the end of both the most successful campaign and the most successful fundraising year in the institution’s history.
The College of IST total surpassed its fundraising goal and represents a transformative investment by 783 alumni, friends, corporate partners and others in its mission to prepare leading professionals and scholars who leverage technology and critical thinking skills to solve the complex challenges of an information society.
"These gifts of time, expertise and money are selfless acts that demonstrate a belief in our college’s current state and a commitment to creating a greater IST,” said Andrew Sears, dean of the College of IST. “Every gift of every size has real value, but the alumni and friends who make these gifts are invaluable.”
The campaign, which began in 2016, was focused on the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. Within the College of IST, top campaign gifts and priorities included:
- $2.9 million raised for undergraduate scholarships. Donors have secured additional funds for IST from the campaign’s scholarship matching programs, including $860,000 through the Open Doors Matching Program and Educational Equity Scholarship Matching Program.
- The creation of 36 new IST scholarships — increasing the number of scholarships available to students in the college by more than two-thirds since the campaign began.
- The ability for students with financial need to secure essential technology, including computers that will be used as they complete a degree in the college.
“This generous support provides more opportunities for more students to access an IST education and creates experiences that expand and enhance classroom instruction, transforming how students connect what they learn to the world around them,” said Sears. “It also equips faculty, scholars and students with the necessary resources to pursue solutions to society’s most pressing challenges and helps to advance interdisciplinary research that produces scholarly insights and real-world impact at the intersection of information, technology and society.”
An IST campaign celebration will be held this fall to honor the lifetime benefactors who have supported IST through the campaign and to highlight the impact their generosity has made.
Details about the campaign’s achievements, as well as the results from every Penn State college and campaign, are available at greaterpennstate.psu.edu. Stories about philanthropy’s impact at the University can be found at raise.psu.edu.