COLLEGE STATION—Texas A&M University commemorated the conclusion of its seven-year, $1 billion One Spirit One Vision fundraising campaign with a campus celebration on March 30 that included about 1,000 of the university’s top donors and corporate partners.

The campaign, which exceeded its billion-dollar goal 18 months ago, reached an astounding $1.5 billion by December 31, 2006 ($1,502,843,961.31).

“This remarkable campaign involved the effort and philanthropy of thousands who are part of the Texas Aggie family,” said Dr. Ed Davis, interim president of Texas A&M and on leave as president of the Texas A&M Foundation. “Texas A&M will continue to attain distinction only through private funding—this campaign demonstrated our commitment to both academic excellence and the Aggie Spirit that binds us together. By attracting new faculty, more diverse students, and adding state-of-the-art facilities, we showed that Texas A&M University is committed to educating leaders who are competent, conscientious and compassionate.”

Among the first donors to the campaign were Jack E. Brown, Class of 1946, and his wife, Frances, who gave $5 million towards chemical engineering education. Their gift was honored with the naming of one of university’s newest facilities—the Jack E. Brown Chemical Engineering Building. Long before their landmark gift, the Browns were loyal supporters of Texas A&M. They endowed an academic chair in engineering and contributed major gifts to the George Bush School of Government and Public Service’s Center for Presidential Studies.

Another name that has become synonymous with Aggie philanthropy is Artie McFerrin, a 1965 graduate of Texas A&M. With his wife, Dorothy, McFerrin committed $10 million in 2005 to establish an endowed fund in the Department of Chemical Engineering, which was later named in his honor. The McFerrin family also has endowed a professorship in chemical engineering and is a lead donor to two new athletic facilities at Texas A&M: the indoor practice fields and a state-of-the-art basketball complex. Dorothy McFerrin set up a $1 million endowment for a day care and preschool center for the children of Texas A&M faculty, students and staff, named in honor of Becky Gates, the wife of former Texas A&M President Robert Gates.

One of the largest gifts to conclude the campaign was given by Cynthia and George P. Mitchell, who donated $35 million for two new physics buildings designed to help move the university into the front ranks of fundamental physics and astronomy. This donation by the oil, gas and land-development entrepreneur and his wife was but one in a series supporting Texas A&M's scientific development. With previous gifts supporting academic chairs, professorships and the Giant Magellan Telescope project, the Mitchells are Texas A&M's most financially supportive benefactors of the modern day, with donations now totaling nearly $49 million for the sciences alone. Mitchell graduated from Texas A&M in 1940 with a petroleum engineering degree.

Donations like these from the Browns, McFerrins and Mitchells—as well as thousands of investments in Texas A&M, large and small—have resulted in the creation of 1,900 new scholarships, fellowships, professorships and chairs.

The campaign was part of Texas A&M’s Vision 2020 strategic plan—a roadmap for attaining recognition as a top-tier public university by the year 2020. Launched in 2000, the One Spirit One Vision Campaign established a fundraising goal of $1 billion. At the time, it was only one of 12 other billion-dollar university campaigns in the United States.

The volunteer-led campaign incorporated all private gifts benefiting Texas A&M given through the Texas A&M Foundation, The Association of Former Students, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and the 12th Man Foundation. It also included private grants awarded to and administered by the university.

“The One Spirit One Vision Campaign confirmed what the Aggie can-do spirit can accomplish for Texas A&M University,” said Jerry Cox, presiding campaign chair. “It has made an impact and changed lives, locally and globally. Texas A&M University remains a unique American institution and we have our donors to thank for that.”