Building on its growing momentum, Denison University has announced the launch of its most ambitious fundraising effort in history. What We Can Be: The Denison Campaign is a call to imagine and invest in the next great chapter of Denison’s story. The campaign is raising $400 million to advance the university’s focus on launching students quickly and successfully into their lives and careers.
The campaign’s theme, What We Can Be, represents a bold and ambitious vision for Denison’s future: to be the world’s most innovative and life-shaping liberal arts college, where academic rigor meets real-world readiness and every student discovers both who they are and what they can become. The result will be an extremely relevant education that delivers significant lifetime value.
“Denison’s enduring commitment is to prepare students not only to launch quickly and succeed, but to lead and thrive in a changing world,” said Adam Weinberg, president of Denison University. “What We Can Be gets to the heart of what makes Denison extraordinary: an education that unlocks endless possibilities and enables students to become the architects of their own lives. These investments will fuel our ability to pursue opportunity, meet students’ evolving needs, and continue our momentum for decades ahead.”
What We Can Be is more than a campaign, Weinberg added, it is a movement to expand Denison’s impact beyond students’ four years on The Hill and to ensure that Denison continues to lead with innovation and curiosity. The campaign invests in Denison’s students, faculty, and community to turn potential into achievement.
More than $240 million has already been raised during the campaign’s leadership phase, reflecting tremendous support and belief in Denison’s vision for the future.
Building on the success of the university’s previous campaign, What We Can Be focuses on six key priorities that are foundational to Denison’s strategy:
- Access and Affordability ($125 million goal) — Expanding scholarships and aid to ensure talented students from all backgrounds can attend and thrive at Denison.
- Academic Excellence ($57 million goal) — Investing in innovative programs, faculty, and facilities that allow Denison to deliver a high-quality and exceedingly relevant liberal arts education.
- Career Launch ($70 million goal) — Providing every student with meaningful career preparation through internships, mentorship, and professional experiences.
- Enhancing Student Life ($45 million goal) — Strengthening wellness, athletics, the arts, leadership, and community across campus.
- Alumni Network for Life ($78 million goal) — Deepening connections among Denison’s nearly 40,000 alumni to sustain lifelong engagement and opportunity.
- Unrestricted Endowment ($25 million goal) — Provides the ability to pivot and respond quickly to opportunities in a changing environment.
“Our donors have always believed in the power of education to transform lives,” said Greg Bader, vice president for institutional advancement. “Through this campaign, What We Can Be, their generosity will make an immediate and lasting impact by helping more students access the Denison experience.”
Denison’s campaign launch comes on the heels of significant momentum and public recognition.
The latest college rankings from U.S. News & World Report showed Denison moving to #34 among national liberal arts colleges — up 21 places since 2016 — and #1 in Ohio. Additionally, among the 2,400 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S., Denison ranked #2 for best career services, #2 for happiest students, and #4 for best classroom experience in rankings released by The Princeton Review.
In 2025, Big Red student-athletes achieved arguably the greatest year in Denison’s athletics history, including two NCAA national championships. The college also broke ground on a new center for data and innovation, a first-of-its-kind campus hub devoted to integrating data across the curriculum and accelerating Denison’s leadership in developing a model for AI in learning and career preparation. Building on its success in launching popular majors, Denison has also approved the creation of a Finance major, which is set to launch in 2026.
To learn more about What We Can Be: The Denison Campaign and how to get involved, visit denison.edu/campaign.