Even in the midst of a pandemic, OSU Agriculture is making good progress toward its goal of constructing a new building for the Ferguson College of Agriculture and the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. This summer, OSU Agriculture hosted six sessions with the architects and construction managers responsible for the project, each involving a number of faculty and administrators with the design team. The level of faculty engagement is commendable, and participants are sharing features they think are critical for teaching, research, and student activities in the building. Project architects comment frequently about the depth of faculty involvement and how it has helped them to improve designs for utility and efficiency.

Having a great design for the building is important, but it is only achievable with a successful fundraising campaign. The New Frontiers Campaign is 66 percent of the way to its goal of raising $50 million for the project. Several new Cornerstone Donors, who commit to gifts $1 million or greater, have joined the campaign over the past few months and a number of other gifts have come in as well. That kind of dedication from our donors speaks volumes to the importance of this project and the vision to create a facility that will attract outstanding students and faculty, and serve our agriculture, food and natural resource programs in the future.

Construction is still on schedule to begin in the spring of next year, and we hope to welcome students, faculty and staff into the building in 2023. For more information about the campaign, visit OSUGiving.com/New-Frontiers.