BANGOR, Maine — With a history that stretches back 117 years, Husson University is preparing for its future with a $30 million comprehensive campaign that will increase scholarships, boost endowments and add a new building for its College of Business, the state’s largest business school.
“It’s a new milestone in Husson’s history,” Eric Gordon, Husson spokesman, said Saturday of the “Shaping our Future” capital campaign.
The public phase of the fundraising effort was announced at the Homecoming Weekend gala Saturday night in front of more than 200 alumni and guests. As a result of the silent phase of the “Shaping our Future” campaign, Husson University’s endowment already has grown from $6 million in 2010 to $20 million, and all totalled more than $16 million has been raised towards the campus improvement effort.
“We aspire to do more and choose to move forward because we believe in a better future,” Husson President Robert Clark said in a Saturday news release. “With this campaign, we accept the challenge to be the catalyst responsible for the success of our students and the economic future of our state. There is no greater calling for any institution than the transformation of students’ lives and the education of our future leaders.”
The funds raised will be used to add need- and merit-based scholarships, increase endowments “in order to attract and retain great faculty,” add internships and research funding, support for the Gracie Theatre and to create a Center for Student Leadership and a Center for Learning and Peer Tutoring.
The proposed new business building, estimated to cost $16.5 million, “will fuse business education with science, technology, engineering and math opportunities,” the email states.
“This facility will have the latest and greatest in technology so students can learn in a more interdisciplinary way of learning,” Gordon said.
Husson envisions a cross pollination of sciences and entrepreneurship with the new building, he said.
The fundraising goal for the construction project also includes $3 million for an endowment devoted to technology and innovation.
The new building is needed to handle the growing number of students enrolling in the business school, Dean Marie Hansen said in the news release.
“Husson University’s College of Business continues to experience strong enrollment growth,” Hanson said. “Last year, it grew by over 3.2 percent.”
“We are Maine’s largest business school,” Gordon said.