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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Propelled by an outpouring of support from more than 60,000 households, Oregon State University has increased the goal of its first comprehensive capital campaign to $1 billion.

Publicly launched in October 2007, the historic Campaign for OSU has raised nearly $800 million. The campaign will now continue through 2014, increasing support for Oregon State students, faculty and programs, with an emphasis on key areas identified in the university's strategic plan.

"When we began to plan this campaign, a goal of $1 billion was unimaginable. Yet, here we are, with every confidence that this amazing milestone is truly in our reach, thanks to our dedicated supporters," said OSU President Edward J. Ray. "Oregon State University is experiencing the kind of momentum that produces incredible advancements in a short span of time. It's exciting, and people want to be a part of it."

The Campaign for OSU has enjoyed a remarkable track record of success since its launch. By October 2010 -- a year ahead of schedule -- donors had surpassed the initial campaign goal of $625 million. Inspired by the university's updated strategic plan, campaign leaders approved a revised goal of $850 million.

With donors now closing in on that goal and with new funding opportunities being created through ongoing development of the strategic plan, leaders are now aiming for $1 billion.

The campaign's impact at OSU is already widespread and will be felt for generations to come:

• Through donations of more than $135 million, donors have created 450 new scholarship and fellowship funds, an increase of almost 30 percent from pre-campaign levels. Last year, more than 4,000 students attending Oregon State received donor-funded scholarships and fellowships.
• OSU's number of endowed faculty positions has more than doubled to the current total of 99, enabling the university to attract leading scholars in greater numbers.
• Twenty-three major campus facility projects have been completed or are under way, including the $62.5-million Linus Pauling Science Center, the largest academic facility project in OSU history. Other new landmarks on the OSU campus include the Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families, the Whyte Track & Field Center, a renovated Joyce Collin Furman Hall in the College of Education, and Austin Hall, a new home for the College of Business, scheduled for groundbreaking next fall.
• The Stone Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement was established through a $600,000 campaign commitment to spotlight OSU's growing prominence in the arts.
• More than 3,000 faculty and staff, current and emeritus, have contributed $13 million to the campaign, underscoring the pride that the Oregon State community has in the university.

Through the expanded goal, the campaign is encouraging gifts to create additional endowed Presidential Scholarships, which are awarded competitively to high-achieving Oregon students. A current matching initiative funded by $5 million from the Office of the OSU President has the potential to more than double the existing number of these endowed scholarship funds.

The university has also announced a second phase of its highly successful Provost's Faculty Match Program. Through the program's first phase, funded by $10 million from the Office of the Provost, donors established or expanded 22 endowed faculty position funds with commitments totaling more than $21 million.

These initiatives are two of the creative ways Oregon State is partnering with private donors to make a lasting impact, said OSU Foundation President and CEO J. Michael Goodwin.

"The university is focusing energy on some very specific strategic goals, building on its strengths in earth ecosystems, health and promoting economic growth. This campaign is designed around those same goals," Goodwin said. "As we gather new partners to join these efforts, it becomes possible to move forward much more quickly. That's good news for the entire state."

Goodwin noted campaign contributions now total $794 million and represent a broad base of support, with 140 gifts of $1 million or more and almost 1,000 gifts at the $100,000 level.

Reaching the new $1-billion goal would place Oregon State in remarkable company: only 29 of the nation's 672 public universities have completed billion-dollar campaigns. Meanwhile, 35 universities, public and private, are currently committed to campaign goals of $1 billion or more.

Campaign co-chairs Pat Reser ('60), Jim Rudd, and Patrick Stone ('74) say garnering that level of private support is appropriate for a university that has expanded its status in recent years as Oregon's leading four-year research university. OSU is the only Oregon institution to simultaneously hold the Carnegie Foundation's top ranking for research universities and designation for community engagement.

Stone, co-chair of the campaign steering committee and chair of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, said the 105,000-square-foot Linus Pauling Science Center is emblematic of that new level of achievement.

"When you walk through that building and meet the scientists who work there, it's clear that OSU has arrived on the world scene as a top-tier research institution," Stone said. "The Linus Pauling Science Center is more than just a building; it is an affirmation of our quest to provide the highest quality education to students and maximize our contributions to Oregon and the world. That's what this campaign is all about."