WSU Vancouver

Campaign Goal: $20 Million

Southwest Washington is among the fastest growing regions in the Pacific Northwest and has come into its own as an economic powerhouse in the state. Vancouver and Clark County in particular offer the ideal climate, tax rates, utility costs, and skilled workforce to attract companies and develop new jobs in high-tech, healthcare, environmental, and other types of industries. Because growing industries rely on an educated workforce, WSU Vancouver opened in 1989 to answer the call of the region’s residents and businesses to offer higher education closer to home.

The high-tech corridor is rapidly expanding beyond Portland and Vancouver to include other fast-growing communities such as Camas, Ridgefield, and Battle Ground. WSU Vancouver is closely tied to the region’s communities, partnering with local industry and schools to develop new technologies, processes, and research and to educate the workforce vital to sustain economic growth. The community is also our classroom as we draw faculty expertise from local professionals and partner students with businesses for practical hands-on experience.

About 90 percent of our students come from within a 50-mile radius, and our transition to a four-year undergraduate university in 2006 reinforced our commitment to educate the future leadership of this dynamic region. Today, nearly 8,000 WSU Vancouver alumni live, work, and volunteer their time in Southwest Washington, making significant contributions to their community and ensuring that Southwest Washington maintains its reputation as a vibrant region of innovation and invention.

Yet the need for more education in Southwest Washington remains great. According to 2000 census data, less than 28 percent of the state’s population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher. In Southwest Washington, it is only 20 percent. The median income level in Southwest Washington is also below the state average. So, while the need for an educated workforce is great, the inability to pay for higher education is even greater. Through the Campaign for Washington State University, we seek to build generous endowments and current use funds to support and secure opportunities for our students, faculty, high-tech facilities and learning tools that encourage creativity and applied knowledge.

WSU Vancouver applies excellence to issues facing our region, our state, and beyond. Through the Campaign for WSU, we seek to expand the capabilities of the region's workforce, to develop and enhance challenging academic programs, and to recruit and retain high-achieving students and faculty. We will also enhance our growing campus with student life facilities, expand the Early Learning Leadership Center, and develop a state-of-the-art research park.

We invite you, our community partners and the more than 15,000 WSU alumni living in our region, to join us in advancing this important vision through the Campaign for Washington State University. With your enthusiastic support of its $20 million goal, WSU Vancouver will emerge as one of the region's prominent intellectual, social, and cultural leaders and will continue to drive the economic prosperity and future development of Southwest Washington.