“Acceleration” Begins With $5 Million Gift Commitment From The Valley Foundation
Contact: Pat Lopes Harris, 408-656-6999
SAN JOSE, Calif., — At an evening event Oct. 21, Interim President Don W. Kassing launched “Acceleration: The Campaign for San Jose State University” by announcing The Valley Foundation has made a $5 million gift commitment to the School of Nursing. In gratitude for this gift and over $3.5 million in past donations, the school will be named the San Jose State University Valley Foundation School of Nursing, pending approval from the California State University Board of Trustees in November. The dinner, for over 300 SJSU supporters at the Event Center, opened the public phase of SJSU’s first-ever comprehensive campaign with a $200 million goal by 2014. SJSU raised over $129 million during the private phase, beginning in 2006.
“Our nursing program is a perfect example of San Jose State University’s direct impact on our community’s quality of life,” Interim President Kassing said. “The Valley Foundation appreciates the critical role our corporate and community partners must play when it comes to providing students with access to the very best academic and professional programs. This gift, and our entire comprehensive fundraising campaign, is about securing a better future not just for our students and our university, but our community and our region.”
The gift will be used for two purposes: to invest in an endowment providing long-term support for the nursing school, and to provide current support for a state-of-the-art nursing simulation lab. In a broader sense, the gift will also allow San Jose State to take a more prominent role in addressing our nation’s nursing shortage. The United States faces a shortfall of up to one million nurses over the next decade. California’s share will be more than 40,000 full-time-equivalent nurses. The Valley Foundation, based in Los Gatos, serves Santa Clara County by funding non-profits in the health care and medical services fields, including educational institutions.
“When most aspiring students from our community set out to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing, there is just one place to go and that is San Jose State,” The Valley Foundation Chairman Phillip R. Boyce, who graduated from SJSU in 1966 with a business degree. “The Valley Foundation is proud to support these students and the university because we know our gift will impact the quality of care in doctor’s offices, hospitals, and health care facilities of all kinds in our region and beyond.”
Founded in 1955, the SJSU School of Nursing is the only public institution granting bachelor’s and master’s nursing degrees in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties. Current enrollment exceeds 1,400 nursing and pre-nursing students, instructed by over 50 faculty members. The clinical simulation lab features hi-fidelity mannequins including adult, child, toddler, infant, and birthing mother units. Programmed scenarios expose students to common and uncommon treatment decisions, team and family-member communication practice, and the debriefing and reflection that follow.
“Acceleration” marks the first time in SJSU’s 153-year history that the university will launch a highly organized, resourced and targeted effort to raise millions of dollars. The campaign encompasses all seven colleges, the University Library, Student Affairs and Intercollegiate Athletics. SJSU will seek gifts from private individuals, corporations and foundations in support of four areas: Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship ($75 million), An Investment in Students ($67 million), The Gateway to Silicon Valley and Beyond ($24 million), and Support for Existing Programs ($34 million).
Learn more about “Acceleration: The Campaign for San Jose State University.”
Learn more about the SJSU School of Nursing.
San Jose State — Silicon Valley’s largest institution of higher learning with 27,400 students and 3,190 employees — is part of the California State University system. SJSU’s 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation’s 10th largest city.