Timeline
Academic Year 2005-2006
President Bridges meets with all faculty and staff and travels across the country to get to know alumni and friends.
Summer 2005
Whitman’s faculty completes Building on Excellence, a plan to transform the College’s academic program.
Spring 2007
Campaign planning begins with the creation of a timeline and analysis of Whitman’s fundraising capacity.
Fall 2007
A detailed vision for Whitman’s future is authored on campus.
September 2007
The First Opportunity Scholarship Endowment established by Bill Neff ’67 and Rita Grimm Neff ’69 to aid those who are the first in their families to attend college benefits its first recipient.
December 2007
The Stanton Innovation Endowment is established to fund innovative learning projects developed by faculty for students.
Winter and Spring 2008
The campaign vision is presented to more than 300 alumni and friends at 13 Presidential Dialogue events across the country to gauge interest in each of its components.
May 2008
Diana Sharp Deshler ’64 funds the William K. and Diana Deshler Chair to provide support for a tenure-track faculty member. A year later, she adds the Deshler Family Scholarship Endowment for merit-based aid to her commitment.
Spring 2008
Trustee John Stanton ’77 agrees to serve as national campaign chair.
June 2008
Whitman receives a $345,000 grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation to launch key components of its Global Studies Initiative.
August 2008
The Board of Trustees authorizes pursuit of the quiet phase of a comprehensive campaign.
Academic year 2008-2009
Current and former governing board members make early leadership commitments to the campaign.
September 2008
The Fouts Center for Visual Arts, a 38,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility supported by more than $13.3 million in gifts, opens.
September 2008
The W Club is established to support varsity athletics. Subsequently, members make gifts to improve the student-athlete experience, including creating several endowments to generate support in perpetuity.
November 2009
Early commitments help bring the total raised to $50 million.
November 2009
Gifts enable significant renovations of Sherwood Athletic Center, including a new climbing wall and renovated gymnasiums.
December 2009
An anonymous donor makes a $1.2 million commitment to the Advancing Excellence in Teaching Initiative to attract and retain talented faculty members and improve the student academic experience.
May 2010
To honor Dr. George Ball on his 95th birthday, more than 500 alumni and friends raise upwards of $1.7 million to establish the George Hudson Ball Chair in the Humanities.
May 2010
The Glover Alston Center opens, providing a new space for students from a diversity of backgrounds to explore, reflect, discuss and engage.
Summer 2010
Quiet phase fundraising total surpasses $75 million.
September 2010
The Parents Leadership Committee decides to focus its efforts on providing support for experiential learning through student/faculty research and internships.
April 2011
The Written and Oral Communications Initiative, funded by Trustee Emerita Elizabeth Main Welty and designed to improve student writing, helps 250 students prepare presentations for the 13th annual Whitman Undergraduate Conference.
Fiscal year 2010-2011
26 new endowments are established, including six unrestricted, 10 for scholarship aid, four for athletics, three for faculty support and three for departments and programs.
September 2011
Harper Joy Theatre opens, reflecting renovations made possible by key gifts from alumni, friends and foundations.
November 2011
The Board of Trustees approves resolution to launch public phase of campaign.
November 2011
Now Is the Time campaign launches.
Now through June 2015
Gifts propel Now Is the Time campaign to $150 million goal, benefitting Whitman and its students.
Now Is the Time...
To join us
Make a gift or make a multi-year pledge online at campaign.whitman.edu