The School of Architecture and Allied Arts aims to raise $42 million to support students, faculty, programs, and facilities. The top priority of the A&AA campaign is phase 1 construction of a new academic home in the heart of campus. The A&AA goal is part of the UO’s recently announced comprehensive capital campaign to raise $2 billion.
Acting Dean Brook Muller says the transformative investment will boost A&AA’s reputation and ambitions as a worldwide leader.
Above: A&AA students celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary with a birthday party Friday, October 17, in front of Lawrence Hall. Photo by Brinkley Capriola.
"To be a creative global leader, A&AA needs to continue what it does well, after 100 years of success, and grow into new and exciting arenas,” says Muller, alluding to the school’s centennial year, 2014-15. “The goals for the school touch on investments needed to become a leading hub combining the best of place-based and technologically innovative learning in a premier residential research university. This will position our students and faculty members to help shape a more sustainable, prosperous, and beautiful world."
Prior to the announcement of the public phase of the campaign, A&AA raised nearly $26 million—largely to support faculty excellence, student success, and program innovation. Of the $16 million left to fundraise, the primary goal is to secure $13 million in private donations for the first phase construction for a new home for A&AA.
“Our planning processes have included design studio investigations, analytical reports, programming studies, and a visioning workshop led by Bruce Mau,” said Muller. “This work has yielded remarkable insight about how today’s A&AA students—who are tomorrow’s professionals—learn, work, and create,” he said. “We are carefully considering locations for this new facility, with specific attention to the University Street area between East 15th and East 18th Avenues.”
The school’s private investment goals include:
New Construction: $13 Million
The most important focus within the next four years of the campaign is to build a new home for A&AA. “Intellectual ambitions are best served by open, light-filled, spirited contemporary environments outfitted with the tools that allow us to create, build, prototype, fail, succeed spectacularly, and share our discoveries,” Muller said. “A&AA students demand seamless physical, digital, and globally connected learning environments that empower innovation in action for the greater good.” Phase 1 fits into the long-term goal of a new integrated home for A&AA in a central and highly visible location for campus. While programs in the Department of Art and in the Product Design Program are in most need of new space, the project will support all of A&AA as well as the university at large and in so doing will bring back Ellis Lawrence’s vision of interdisciplinary creative practice. Lawrence was the school’s founding dean who guided the collaborative curriculum that is a hallmark for A&AA. He served as dean from 1914 until 1946.
Faculty Excellence: $17.5 Million
A&AA is a magnet for ambitious, environmentally- and socially-conscious faculty members. Innovative in research and committed to education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, these life-changing professors actively pursue new ideas and develop knowledge that improves quality of life and address epic challenges facing people around the world. “Art, design and creative inquiry are essential components in an approach to higher education that helps shift the balance in what promises to be a spectacular and tumultuous century,” Muller said.
Student and Program Support, Facilities Renovation: $11.5 Million
Initiatives in support for academic opportunities, global education, technology and innovative programs are key campaign goals. Supporting and endowing the Dean’s Excellence Fund will provide the school’s leader with seed funding to proactively respond to new opportunities and build a strong foundation for experimentation and innovations. Critical investments in global education will ensure that sustainability and design connect our students and faculty members with academic and industry partners worldwide. In addition, funds will help to renovate facilities within A&AA. Updating Hendricks Hall and providing historic building restoration funds for the John Yeon Center are important goals for sustaining our rich educational environments.
A&AA serves more than 2,000 students per year, the vast majority of who rely on financial aid. Privately funded scholarships help us recruit and keep promising, high-achieving students. Enrolling outstanding graduate students strengthens our professional programs and impacts directly the quality of research and the school’s ability to attract leading professors. The University of Oregon is currently engaged in a systematic effort to expand and enhance the graduate school. A&AA will play a leading role in this endeavor.
The A&AA campaign is part of the university’s new fundraising campaign, announced on October 17, to raise $2 billion. The most ambitious campaign in the UO’s history, the $2 billion benchmark is also the largest fundraising effort ever undertaken by an organization in the state.
Focused on access, excellence, and the UO experience, the campaign comes at a critical point in UO’s 138-year history. In July, UO established an independent governing board and this year embarked on a strategic effort to raise its academic stature by advancing world-class programs through targeted clusters of faculty hiring.
“This is a new day for the University of Oregon,” said Chuck Lillis, chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Oregon. “There is a strong sense of purpose across the campus. And there is a shared commitment to tell our unique story, to decide our own future. With the generous support of Ducks worldwide, we will seize this opportunity.”
Read more on the campaign at Around the O, the university’s electronic newsletter or follow on Twitter.