Fundraising fuels educational innovation and more at SDSU
The university drew $132 million in gifts and pledges in 2023-24, including endowments to support programs in perpetuity.
It’s not as crazy as it sounds: San Diego State University’s Institute for Transformative Education (ITE) sent Reychel Joy Robles (‘22) to tutor math students who she readily admits understood the subject better than she did.
“I haven’t taken math since high school,” Robles would tell students at the multicultural Taft Middle School in San Diego’s Serra Mesa neighborhood. “That would surprise them, and then I would reframe the experience: Can you actually show me how to do this?”
“At the end of the day it wasn’t about math, it was about communication,” said Robles, now a master’s student in communication.
And at least in a small way, it’s also about the value of an impactful endowment for ITE received during a $132 million year of fundraising at SDSU.
Founding director Cynthia Park and her husband, James Park, pledged $1.2 million to the institute at SDSU’s College of Education last November. The gift endows the executive directorship of the institute, covering salary and additional expenses, to begin with Park’s successor after she retires.
Robles was part of a service-learning opportunity through ITE’s Pathways Office, which sends tutors across the San Diego Unified and Sweetwater Union High School districts, trained in culturally aware teaching techniques.
With a variety of pre-college and undergraduate programs, ITE promotes college access, advocacy, and equity and serves an average of 1,800 K-12 students and 500 SDSU undergraduates annually.
The $132 million in gifts and pledges raised through The Campanile Foundation, a nonprofit auxiliary of SDSU, cover the 12 months that ended June 30. Some notable figures include 5,076 first-time donors and more than 60 endowments established.
It includes a $5 million gift for the Gus & Emma Thompson Black Resource Center from brothers Lloyd Dong Jr. and Ron Dong; a $500,000 gift for the SDSU Imperial Valley nursing program from Carolyn and Cliff Colwell of San Diego; and a gift from Christine Probett (‘85, ‘87, ‘97) to establish the C&C Probett Excellence in Aerospace Endowed Fund in Senior Design Projects.
In addition, philanthropy supported $5.7 million in scholarship awards in 2023-24.
SDSU Vice President of University Relations and Development Adrienne Vargas said a number of “pretty amazing” repeat donors contributed again this year. “They just continue to step up to the plate,” said Vargas, adding that donor retention levels at SDSU exceed the national average.
Endowments, which support future generations in perpetuity, are particularly appreciated.
Cynthia Park said she sees the ITE, founded more than 40 years ago as the Pre-College Institute, as a means “not only to transform our students' lives, but also to be able to transform our staff, faculty, and others that we would reach out to.”
With no dedicated source of university funding, “it’s very important for us to sustain this,” she said. “It’s an important part of making education impactful.”
That word comes up a lot when speaking of endowments.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Cynthia and James for their visionary gift to ensure the Institute will continue to positively impact young lives for decades to come,” Y. Barry Chung, dean of the College of Education, said shortly after the gift was announced. “Cynthia’s 40-year legacy of making a difference through PCI inspires us all.”
From its origins as a six-week summer residential program, the unit now supports more than 1,200 area middle and high school students each year through its federally funded Upward Bound and Talent Search programs. Program alumni have gone into teaching, medicine, engineering and academic research.
Robles, a first-generation student who self-identifies as Filipina Asian-American, spent five years with ITE after transferring to SDSU from San Diego Miramar College, described the institute’s work as “very student-centered.”
“It’s culturally responsive education where they value (the) backgrounds that the students bring in,” she said. “They made it very clear that your experiences matter.”
Learn more about making gifts to SDSU or contact Associate Vice President, Mary Darling, at 619-594-8299
For information on how to include San Diego State University in your will or trust, contact Associate Vice President Amy Walling at [email protected] or 619-508-9255.
Michael Klitzing contributed to this article.
