Investing in Tomorrow

Fall 2021 Inventing tomorrow

Our community of steadfast alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students has come together in extraordinary ways during the past 18 months. This collective spirit of generosity and willingness to rise to challenges, as well as to seize opportunities, is a hallmark of the College of Science
and Engineering.

Since its public launch in 2017, Driven. The College of Science and Engineering Campaign has responded to urgent priorities, solved intractable problems, and opened doors to a brighter future for the next generation of scientists and engineers. In the face of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice, you, our alumni and friends, continued to contribute generously throughout the final campaign year to help us not only to meet, but also to exceed our $285 million campaign goal—with 12,741 supporters contributing a humbling $313 million to this historic effort.

Your gifts have empowered students to access a world-class education, ignited faculty innovation and discovery, provided experiential learning opportunities, and created enhanced laboratories and teaching spaces that spark creativity and ingenuity.

Your generosity has made a tremendous impact across the college, including:

  • Doubling the number of endowed scholarships to 345 and increasing annual awards by 138%
  • Creating 17 new endowed chairs and professorships (a 33% increase), increasing resources for faculty research, recruitment, and retention by 27% 
  • Growing the number of endowed graduate fellowship funds by 32%, with the annual amount increasing by 71%
  • Renovating and constructing seven research and teaching facilities: Shepherd Labs, Gore Annex, Gary Balas Atrium, Mechanical Engineering labs, the Anderson Student Innovation Labs, the Physics and Nanotechnology building, and the first floor of Lind Hall
  • Increasing alumni engagement from 46% in 2012 to 59% in 2021
  • Growing the mentor program by 71% from 115 mentors in 2012 to 203 in 2021 and mentoring more than 1,500 students during the 10-year campaign

While we have reached this milestone, we have not yet reached our destination and much work remains. It takes many hands to educate the workforce of tomorrow, drive the economy of Minnesota and our nation, and solve pressing global problems. 

With the conclusion of our historic campaign, I will be embarking upon my own next chapter. At the start of 2022, I will retire from a role that has brought me immense optimism and pride each day for the past 16 years. I enter retirement with tremendous gratitude, knowing that you, our steadfast community of alumni, donors, and friends, will continue to stand alongside CSE and the remarkable efforts that this college undertakes each and every day with the help of its 9,000 students, faculty, and staff. 

Much like you, I am eager and excited to witness even more incredible accomplishments by CSE and its people. Thank you once again for the important role that you play in driving CSE forward. 

Kim Dockter