Part II: The Campaign for Penn State
By Michael Bezilla
University Relations
Editor's note: Bryce Jordan served from 1983 to 1990 as Penn State's 14th president. Now president emeritus, he lives in retirement in Austin, Texas. As part of the University's sesquicentennial observance, we asked him to reflect on some of the key issues that made his presidency unique. In part two of our story, he discussed The Campaign for Penn State, the University's first-ever comprehensive fund-raising effort that ultimately raised $352 million in gifts from alumni and friends.
When Bryce Jordan became Penn State's 14th president in 1983, the Board of Trustees already had made it clear that one of his most important tasks would be to lead a capital campaign. Penn State had a critical need for philanthropic dollars for such programs as scholarships and endowed professorships, and other programs for which state appropriations were inadequate or unavailable.
But Jordan, by his own admission, had limited experience with fund-raising. "I had some idea of how it worked, but I did not have experience on the magnitude of what we set out to do at Penn State," he recalled. Did that influence his decision to accept the presidency? "No, it just made my job more challenging, and more interesting," he said with a chuckle.
"The fact was, there was no tradition among public universities at that time for raising private funds," he explained. Seeking private dollars had been historically a hallmark of private colleges and universities. "Some people were pessimistic about our chances of success. (Former Penn State President) Eric Walker, for example, whom I admired, didn't think we could raise even a million dollars."
"There was also the fear that the state would use the capital campaign as an excuse to back away from its own financial obligation to Penn State," he said. "That was a very real fear -- people warned us about that. Frankly, I was nervous about what the Legislature would do."
In spite of the obstacles to success, a University-wide fund-raising campaign fit in perfectly with President Jordan's overall goals of strengthening Penn State's academic reputation, and making alumni and friends feel good about the institution's potential to become one of America's front-rank public universities.
"We had plenty of needs for private support, obviously," noted Jordan, "but I emphasized our institutional ambitions over our need. We spoke of the campaign as a springboard to academic greatness."
"One of the first things we did in planning for the campaign was to find out what people all across Pennsylvania -- our alumni, business leaders, legislators and others -- thought of the University. So we commissioned a survey, which showed that many people could not distinguish between Penn State and the state-owned university system. Many people believed that the state provided all the financial support for Penn State. In reality, state appropriations made up less than 20 percent of our total budget.
"We also found that our visual identity was in a terrible mess. We had 30 or 40 different versions of the Nittany Lion, for example. Even with our business cards and street signs, we were all over the map in our designs." As a result, Penn State made greater efforts to achieve a unified message and visual identity. One of the results was the lion and shield mark that is familiar today.
Before fund-raising actually got under way, "we began talking to the deans and other senior academic officers about what we were going to do -- why such a campaign was needed and how we planned to go about it. We also had to educate members of the Legislature to the fact that Penn State got only 20 percent or so of its budget from the state. At the same time, we were also careful not to use philanthropy as a replacement for state funds."
Objectives for The Campaign for Penn State, publicly launched in September 1986 with a $200 million goal, included faculty endowments, scholarships and program support, such as library acquisition funds.
"We were seriously lacking in endowed chairs and professorships and in scholarships," Jordan maintained. "We were well behind other comparable universities."
By then, he and his lieutenants had time to create a volunteer leadership structure, with Bill Schreyer '48 as volunteer chair, backed by a campaign executive committee of loyal alumni. "These men and women were of immense help," he said. "They guided the campaign and did much of the asking (for gifts.) They were extremely committed to making the campaign a success -- I was a little surprised at the depth of their commitment, I wasn't expecting it.
"I think the alumni were a little surprised that we planned a campaign of this magnitude," Jordan said. "Penn State was among the earliest major public institutions to mount a major, university-wide capital campaign, especially in the Northeast, where higher education is dominated by private institutions."
The response to the campaign "was absolutely everything I had hoped for," and state lawmakers -- contrary to some predictions -- did not react negatively. So generous was the outpouring of commitments from alumni and friends that the executive committee increased the campaign goal to $300 million, and $352 million was actually received by the time the effort officially ended on June 30, 1990. That year also marked President Jordan's retirement.
"There is no question in my mind that the campaign was a great success," he declared. "It made Penn Staters feel good about themselves, it raised the overall tone of our academic program, it improved faculty morale, and it got alumni and friends in the habit of giving." Establishing that "culture of philanthropy" is perhaps the Campaign for Penn State's greatest legacy. In the last 10 years alone, alumni and friends have contributed more than $1.5 billion to help the University continue to fulfill its mission of teaching, research and public service.
For a biographical sketch of Bryce Jordan, visit http://www.libraries.psu.edu/speccolls/psua/psgeneralhistory/presidents/jordan.htm online. For photos from the Jordan years, go to http://live.psu.edu/still_life/2005_09_22_jordan/ online. To view the Bryce Jordan retrospective Web site, go to http://www.sesquicentennial.psu.edu/2005_jordan/ online.