UTSA launched one of its biggest campaigns yet, the $500 million Be Bold campaign, to promote student success, research excellence and strategic growth.

“What the Be Bold campaign is really about is the opportunity for those who are excited by the university mission to actively participate in that by getting involved through fundraising and philanthropy,” UTSA Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy said. “The goal for this philanthropy and fundraising is really to support our students, to support our academic programs and faculty, support facilities and essentially to really continue for the Roadrunner brand to continue to grow and make an impact.”

The Be Bold campaign was in its “quiet phase” since 2017 before it reached the halfway point of their goal, $250 million. Espy explained that while similar campaigns are typically a decade-long fundraising process, UTSA has exceeded 60 percent of its goal in five years.

“Not surprisingly, UTSA has burst through that,” Espy said. “I think we’re at 62% or something, and that we’ve already raised $311 million and so we are closing the gap to get to that half a billion dollar mark.”

Similar to UTSA’s proposal for the $3 million National Science Foundation grant, Andrews stressed the university’s commitment to ensuring student prosperity beyond enrollment.

“UTSA is really committed to increasing the number of students who are going to college and we know that one of the biggest barriers to that is finances,” Espy said. “So the ability for the campaign to support students’ scholarships makes a difference in them getting to college in [the] first place, and then makes a difference in persisting.”

Though there have been multi-million dollar contributions to the campaign, Espy emphasized that every gift is transformative because it supports UTSA’s mission.

“Well, every gift is a transformational gift in my mind, because obviously, it goes to supporting needs big and small,” Espy said. “Oftentimes what they refer to are those big gifts — the MacKenzie Scott $40 million, the Carlos and Malú Alvarez, naming the College of Business and supporting in an ongoing way through endowment activities year in and year out, the Klesse gift is much the same way, naming our College of Engineering and Integrated Design that helps propel it to really be competing with the best. It’s these kinds of gifts, especially [ones] that go into [an] endowment that then allow[s] you to be adding to your activities, adding to your students’ support — that can make a difference that can make that transformative impact.”

For more information about the Be Bold Campaign, visit https://www.utsa.edu/today/2022/10/story/be-bold-teaser.html, https://www.utsa.edu/giving/be-bold/#_ga=2.14155319.1472580663.1666537453-1795100088.1628398422 and https://www.utsa.edu/strategicplan/