A campaign to raise $200 million in private funds over seven years at Missouri University of Science and Technology ended on a successful note Wednesday (June 30), with the university surpassing the fundraising goal by nearly $12 million.

Missouri S&T raised $211.8 million through the Advancing Excellence Campaign, which began on July 1, 2003.

The campaign goal was to raise $200 million in private support to fund scholarships, support faculty and programs, upgrade facilities and equipment, and increase corporate funding for research. Donations to the campaign included gifts from 22,000 alumni, corporations, foundations, friends of the university, faculty, staff and students, as well as private grants.

Despite the nationwide economic downturn that began in the fall of 2008, donations to the Advancing Excellence Campaign remained strong, says Missouri S&T Chancellor John F. Carney III.

“Our alumni tell us that their Rolla experience was the key to their success in their lives and careers, and during this campaign 35 percent of our alumni showed their gratitude to the university through their generous gifts,” Carney says. “Their gifts have created new scholarships for students, attracted outstanding instructors and researchers to our campus, and enhanced our technological facilities and equipment.”

Nearly 15,000 alumni contributed funds to the university during the Advancing Excellence Campaign.
Among the major accomplishments during the Advancing Excellence Campaign were the following:

• The creation of more than 200 new scholarships, which provide support for more than 600 additional students. (Nearly one-third of Missouri S&T students come from families with household incomes of under $40,000.)
• Construction and renovation of Toomey Hall, the university’s mechanical and aerospace engineering complex. Private support for the $29 million project included a $5 million lead gift from university graduate John Toomey and his wife Mary and their family. Toomey earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the university in 1949 and 1951.
• Funding for a facility for the university’s award-winning student design teams. When completed next spring, the Kummer Design Center – named for lead donor Fred Kummer, a 1955 civil engineering graduate, and his wife June – will provide new work and meeting space for 10 design teams that involve more than 500 students.
• Funding for 11 endowed faculty positions in disciplines including biochemistry, computer science, energy, environmental engineering, and materials science and engineering.
• A new fitness center and varsity weight room complex, funded through gifts from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation and Roger A. Dorf, a 1965 mechanical engineering graduate, and his wife Sandy, as well as student fees.
• Support for summer pre-college programs, which bring nearly 2,000 elementary and secondary students to campus annually.
• Funding for a new indoor practice facility to provide year-round training for the university’s 360 student-athletes.

The Advancing Excellence Campaign coincided with record enrollment growth for Missouri S&T and a name change for the university. Prior to Jan. 1, 2008, Missouri S&T was known as the University of Missouri-Rolla. The university changed its name to Missouri University of Science and Technology to better reflect its focus on engineering, science and technology.