The Here, We Go campaign is within $42 million of its $1 billion dollar goal, a number the project intends to hit by 2020. | File Photo/The Cougar.
More than $955.1 million has been donated to the $1 billion Here, We Go Campaign, announced Vice President of University Advancement Eloise Brice on Tuesday.
Launched in 2012, the campaign intended to raise $1 billion by 2020. The campaign raised $684 million within the first five years. Over $270 million have been raised since the campaign passed the five-year mark, leaving $42.3 million left to raise.
Funds donated to the Here, We Go Campaign go toward the increase of scholarships and fellowships, building new facilities, attracting accomplished faculty and bolstering the athletics program, according to the campaign’s website. Donors choose how their money will be used in these areas.
The University also announced its collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE), who donated a $10 million gift as part of the Here, We Go campaign to name the Data Science Institute and to provide funding and equipment to bolster data science research projects, according to the press release.
The collaboration between HPE and the University extends beyond funding into the classroom and the city of Houston. HPE leaders will serve as lecturers for classes in disciplines that utilize data science. In turn, UH students will have the opportunity to work on research proposed by HPE and to solve problems for HPE customers, according to the press release.
HPE’s work in conjunction with the University is part of a larger, city-wide movement focused on speeding up the advancement of Houston’s innovation economy. This economy emphasizes innovation and new technology as the basis for progress within key sectors, according to the Greater Houston Partnership.
In addition to donations to the Here, We Go Campaign, the University also received a $17 million endowment from philanthropists Andy and Andrea Diamond to the Diamond Family Scholars Program. The program seeks to provide “financial, academic, mentoring and support” for students who have aged out of the foster care system, according to the press release.
The project aims to increase success rates in areas such as recruitment, retention and graduation among students previously in the foster care system. Between 60 and 100 UH students self-identify as former members of the foster care system each year. The four-year graduation rate of this group is currently 37 percent, according to the press release.
The program has a target graduation rate of 60 percent within the first four years and a long-term goal of 80 percent, according to the press release.
The University also received a $1 million endowment to fund opportunities for students in the History department to study and research Texas history, according to the press release. Created by John L. Nau III, a chairman of the Here, We Go campaign, the fund intends to allow students to advance what is known about the history of Texas.
