Saturday, Oct. 29, the University announced the public phase of a $125 million capital campaign, the most ambitious in Puget Sound’s 123-year history. Additionally, President Ronald Thomas announced on the same day that Dr. Gwendolyn H. Lillis P’05 and Dr. Charles M. Lillis P’05 of Castle Rock, Colorado gave an $8 million gift to the campaign, placing the Lillis family among the lead donors and bringing the total amount raised so far to $74 million. This number includes three anonymously donated gifts of $5 million or more each.
The $125 million capital campaign, entitled One [of a Kind] The Campaign for the University of Puget Sound, was revealed at a special evening event on campus on Saturday, Oct. 29, with more than 400 alumni and friends of the University in attendance. The campaign’s goal is to advance Puget Sound’s position as a leading liberal arts college in the United States, and will accomplish this, as the press release claims, “by endowing faculty positions in innovative, interdisciplinary programs; building new facilities for learning and research; expanding scholarships for students and support for faculty members; and affirming Puget Sound’s commitment to the community through initiatives dedicated to stimulating progress in the region.”
President Thomas stated, “This campaign advances that tradition of innovation for the next generation by ensuring the transformative experience students find here lives up to their boundless aspirations and remains affordable to them.” The One campaign is the first of its kind that the University has begun in more than a decade, and is the first to be launched under President Thomas since his arrival to the University in July 2003.
The Lillis’ family endowment presents one such opportunity for Puget Sound to continue empowering its student body to succeed. The Lillis Foundation has sponsored two freshman students entering Puget Sound each year since it was established in 2007, covering full tuition, room and board for the most academically exceptional students of each year’s incoming freshman class. President Thomas was incredibly pleased to welcome the gift of the Lillis Family and the subsequent continuation of the Lillis Family Foundation Scholarship, saying that the scholarship draws some of “country’s top scholars” and supports their academic career at the University, making it an invaluable asset to the campus community.
Lillis Scholar Jana Cary-Alvarez ’14 said that, without question, she would not be attending college if it were not for the Lillis family’s generous support of Puget Sound students. “Without the generosity of people like the Lillis’, I would never be able to attend a university [like Puget Sound.] I am a first generation college student and I come from a family that doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on education. The generosity of the Lillis’ has definitely opened up a world of opportunity to me.” Cary-Alvarez feels that Lillis scholars bring a lot of initiative to the campus community, and is currently pursuing leadership roles in the RHA.
As for the Lillis family’s donation to the University’s One [of a Kind] capital campaign, Cary-Alvarez feels it “typifies the kind of generous people they are.”
“I feel that they are providing the opportunity for generations of Lillis’ scholars here at the University,” Alvarez said. For more information about the highly competitive Lillis Family Foundation Scholarship, or the One [of a Kind] capital campaign, visit the Puget Sound website.