Highlights from 2019

“We can help the faculty and the students of SDSU all walk on higher ground.”

That quote from 1979 alum Kevin Haarberg about the $2 million commitment that he and his wife, Lorie, made to create an endowed chair in oncology research is an appropriate description of the impact made at South Dakota State University by philanthropy in 2019.

The Haarberg Endowed Chair in Oncology was one of two endowed positions established last year. The other was the David A. Thompson Endowed Director of Dairy and Food Science.

Both were examples of alumni that looked back fondly on their SDSU experiences, credited that to their successful careers, and made transformational investments in their alma mater. The result is perpetual funding in two critical areas of SDSU’s influence in the state, region and nation.

The support wasn’t limited to alumni. Friends, business and industry partners, and other private foundations made significant investments in the university. Even students stepped up in a meaningful way. In that exciting 24-hour period, 506 of the 3,744 donors that made gifts in support of the record-breaking One Day for STATE were current SDSU students.

Collectively, they made 2019 the second-largest fundraising year in SDSU history with $62.8 million in new gifts and pledges.

That translated into an all-time high in academic scholarships, additional funding for new and existing programs, and construction on two new signature buildings for the university – the Raven Precision Agriculture Center, and the American Indian Student Center.  

The STATELY Review serves to capture the power of philanthropy in 2019 in photos and stories, and provide a report of the resulting impact on our university. The extraordinary generosity that has existed at SDSU for generations and continued last year has allowed our faculty and students to “walk on higher ground.”