Goal Reached! Upward Together Hits $200 Million, With 1 Year To Go

Upward Together: The Campaign for Whitman College hit its $200 million goal one year ahead of schedule thanks to 15,292 generous donors who made gifts of all amounts. The campaign marks the most ambitious philanthropic endeavor in the history of the college.

Upward Together Chair Nancy Serrurier (Parent ’11) announced the milestone at a Board of Trustees event on Thursday, May 8.

“We are so thankful to all the donors who have made this possible and continue to see the bright future that this campaign represents,” said Serrurier.  “But we’re not done yet! The final year has some fantastic opportunities to really make a transformational difference in the Whitman experience, especially around exceptional immersive learning.”

A Collective & Impactful Difference

Since its launch, more than 15,000 donors—alumni, families, friends and organizations—have made gifts to the Upward Together campaign. Their gifts are helping Whitman move forward key and impactful priorities, including: 

• Making a Whitman education more accessible for all students
• Creating a more vibrant campus community
• Investing in new teaching and programs, enriching Whitman’s academic excellence
• Boosting career services, internships and research opportunities
• Advancing inclusion and belonging

“Through the past few years of rapid change in the world, our alumni and friends have uplifted the mission of Whitman College and have invested in our students and their futures in extraordinary ways,” says Whitman College President Sarah Bolton. “We can already see the results of their generosity in very real ways on our campus, and we will be able to do even more during the final year with strategic investments that will benefit both current and future Whitman students.”

Changing the Student Experience in Real Time

The results of the Upward Together campaign are already tangible on Whitman’s campus, perhaps most visibly as a Junior-Senior Village takes shape on the west end of campus. Harvey Hall, Robart Hall and Stegner Hall make up the new residential village—a community that will transform how students live, learn and thrive on campus. Slated to open in August 2025, the apartment-style halls will provide a home for more than 200 students in a parklike setting along a restored College Creek and Boyer Avenue, just steps from downtown Walla Walla.

In addition to the new residential village, the Upward Together campaign has made it possible to make a world-class Whitman education accessible to even more students. Since the fall of 2023, Whitman has been meeting the full financial need of incoming Washington state students. A gift of $10 million from the Weingart family—in honor of Professor Emeritus of History J. Walter “Walt” Weingart and Kathie Weingart—is making this possible for current and future generations of students through the Weingart Opportunity Scholarship.

The broadest and deepest continuing investments of the Upward Together campaign have brought $116 million in future and immediate funding for scholarships and unrestricted support that will help sustain student access to a life-changing Whitman education. This includes gifts to endowments, bequest intentions and The Whitman Fund to expand access and affordability for all students. As part of the campaign, the college launched a scholarship endowment matching gift initiative to further grow philanthropic support for need-based and merit scholarships. 

Another transformational gift gave Whitman students and Upward Together a boost before the public launch of the campaign. Nancy and Greg Serrurier (Parents ’11) committed $5 million to bring dedicated career coaching to each incoming student. Coaches help students craft four-year plans with rich experiences—academics, internships, leadership and service—leading to engaged, thriving students and successful graduate outcomes. 

Thanks to Upward Together, the college is also enhancing academic excellence through philanthropy for teaching and learning. Gifts helped fully endow the college’s Computer Science Department through faculty support endowments and the Kathleen Murray Chair in Computer Science. Other gifts and grants are growing student-faculty research funding and facilitating academic innovation in new programs, such as a new concentration in Human-Centered Design.

Upward Together is also expanding on investments in student mental health and wellness and supporting continued growth in the diversity of students, faculty and staff. Further enriching the vibrance of the campus community and student life are gifts for Whitman Blues Athletics, most recently making possible the Edwards-Moore Clubhouse at Borleske Stadium, dedicated on April 6, 2024, and James Hayner Field, a new all-weather competition and training surface for lacrosse and soccer, dedicated on Oct. 14, 2024.

Investing in the Future & Setting Sights Even Higher

As momentum builds toward the final months of the Upward Together campaign, so does the excitement for even greater impact. The college is now partnering with donors to explore significant gifts to the academic program, immersive learning, student thriving and belonging, and renovated accessible facilities.

Campaign leaders also point to valuable and emerging opportunities to uplift and invest in Whitman students—the leaders and thinkers that the world needs, including: 

Immersive learning. Whitman is looking to boldly expand its offerings of hands-on experiences like internships, research opportunities, and courses that engage students with challenges and opportunities in our community. Supported and guided by mentors, teachers and advisors, these experiences will be available to students in all majors and will help them develop their passions, shape their futures and solve real-world problems. To make this vision a reality, Whitman is looking to increase paid internships, expand student-faculty collaborative research and fund a dedicated staff role to develop partnerships with businesses and organizations in cutting-edge fields, ensuring that students gain valuable career skills while making a real impact.

Meeting full need. Already, generous donors have put the reality of meeting students’ demonstrated financial need within our sights. In this final push, the college aims to boost the endowment to meet the full financial need of all students for years to come. With additional funding, we can also increase our commitment to merit-based scholarships for talented students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement or extracurricular involvement.

Academic excellence and distinction. Whitman aims to build on transformative academic programs, including by funding an endowed professorship in the rapidly growing Brain, Behavior and Cognition major, as well as developing new programs in demand by the students of today, like an interdisciplinary program in Public Health. 

Advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. Whitman is committed to bringing emerging scholars with expertise in new areas of study to campus for one-year fellowship positions via Whitman’s new Faculty Fellows program. In addition, support can help the college recruit outstanding young leaders through the Posse Scholar program, which brings talented Chicago-area students to Whitman.

Join the Cause!

Be part of Upward Together—give now. To request a conversation with a Development Officer, please contact us at 509-527-5165 or development@whitman.edu.