How Denison is investing in the future, right now.
Years ago, What We Can Be: The Denison Campaign was a bold but conceptual plan for Denison’s future. Today, it is a historically ambitious $400 million fundraising effort, actively and tangibly in motion, aimed at fortifying and amplifying the university’s core values.
Since the public launch of What We Can Be in fall 2025, Denisonians have been celebrating and investing in the university’s tremendous momentum. From a campaign kickoff on campus to regional events across the nation, thousands of alums, families, and friends have joined an ongoing conversation about where Denison is headed, how it’s going to get there, and why a Denison education is so powerful — for students and the communities they’ll go on to impact.
“What We Can Be is a campaign about ambition and vision. About belief. About possibility,” said President Adam Weinberg at the campus kickoff event last fall. “It’s about investing in Denison students and faculty, not only to meet this moment, but to shape what comes next.”
The campaign is organized around five strategic priorities that reflect Denison's strengths and aspirations:
- Access and Affordability focuses on ensuring talented students from every background can attend and fully participate in the Denison experience.
- Academic Excellence supports innovative programs, faculty, and facilities that keep a liberal arts education rigorous, relevant, and connected to the world students will inherit.
- Career Launch builds on nationally recognized career preparation programs that help students translate their education into successful and richly textured lives and careers.
- Enhancing Student Life invests in athletics, the arts, leadership, wellness, and the vibrant residential experience that shapes students beyond the classroom.
- Alumni Network for Life strengthens the relationships that connect nearly 40,000 alums across generations, professions, and time zones.
Together, these priorities are designed to expand opportunity, deepen learning, and ensure students have the resources, mentorship, and experiences needed to lead lives of meaning, integrity, and curiosity.
For Elizabeth Lyon ’25, the campaign's focus on access and affordability is deeply personal.
“Like so many of my classmates, I came to Denison with big dreams and a lot of questions,” she said. “How would I grow here? Would I find my community? Could I afford to pursue everything I was passionate about? Thanks to Denison’s financial aid, the answer was yes.”
Lyon’s Denison experience included chemistry research, tutoring, music performance, varsity golf, community health work, and preparation for a career in medicine. Denison was the place where she could be a scientist, an athlete, a singer, and a volunteer — all at the same time. Her story embodies one of the campaign’s central ideas: when financial barriers are removed, students can fully explore what they can become.
As recent graduate Patrick Gavin ’26 told the crowd at the campus kickoff event, campaign investments are already visible.
“When I arrived at Denison as a first-year student, I didn’t know a single person,” he said. Through career services like Denison Edge and Ask a Denisonian, and mentorship from staff and Denison’s vast alumni network, he discovered both confidence and direction.
“Every day, the Knowlton Center connects students with alums, faculty, and opportunities that prepare us to thrive after graduation. None of this would be possible without the generosity of alums, families, and friends of Denison.”
Since the public launch, What We Can Be has traveled well beyond The Hill.
Regional campaign events have brought Denisonians together in cities ranging from Chicago to Washington, D.C.; stops included Charlotte, N.C.; Vero Beach, Fla.; and Jackson Hole, Wyo. Each gathering has offered an opportunity to reconnect, celebrate progress, and explore the campaign’s vibrant vision for Denison.
When Denison took the campaign on the road to New York City, president of NASDAQ Nelson Griggs ’93 hosted celebrants at the iconic Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square.
Against a glowing backdrop synonymous with innovation and catalytic growth, guests heard from President Weinberg, Campaign Executive Committee member Matt Harrington ’84, and ETHEL, the Grammy Award-winning string quartet and Denison’s ensemble-in-residence.
The stories in Denison’s 2026 Impact Report reflect the campaign’s vision in action. They are stories of access and opportunity, innovation and achievement, connection and community. Together, they demonstrate the impact of a university committed to helping students — now and for generations to come — discover What We Can Be.
Throughout it all, one message continues to resound: What We Can Be is not simply a campaign about resources; it’s a campaign about people. It’s about the athlete, artist, entrepreneur, volunteer, leader, scientist, performer, or scholar who arrives on The Hill and realizes that they don’t have to be just one thing. It’s about empowering students’ potential, encouraging their passions, and preparing them to shape the world.
“What We Can Be is about investing in students before they arrive, while they are here, and long after they leave.”
President Adam Weinberg