College of Optical Sciences Raises $12.5M for Scholarships

The University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences has successfully completed one of the most ambitious scholarship fundraising campaigns in the University’s history.

More than 270 donors collectively raised $2.5 million in response to a $10 million challenge, establishing 27 new endowed scholarships for optics graduate students, raising the total to 30.

The campaign brings the total new endowed optics scholarship funds to $12.5 million. The news was announced Tuesday in San Francisco at a reception for the SPIE Photonics West, a leading optics industry convention, as the capstone to the college’s 50th anniversary.

James C. Wyant, professor emeritus and founding dean of the college, committed $10 million in scholarship funds in 2013. His vision was to help students through their first – and most challenging – year of graduate study. Then he uniquely structured his gift as a 4-to-1 offer to encourage others to participate. However, no one anticipated that the outpouring of support would happen so quickly.

Each of the new scholarship funds will award a stipend of $20,000 to first-year graduate students, and the university will waive tuition for all 30 of the scholarship recipients.

“Without question, these scholarships will dramatically enhance the college’s ability to attract the very best science and engineering students into optics and photonics, key to producing tomorrow’s leaders in our field,” said Thomas L. Koch, dean of the college.

Since its inception, the college has grown as a center of innovation and interdisciplinary research and today is the largest and most diverse academic optics education and research program in the nation. A prolific producer of intellectual property, it also has brought in a substantial number of the UA’s recent patents and licenses.

“In just over 50 years, the College of Optical Sciences has become a powerhouse of innovation and is a major contributor to the UA's international reputation for research excellence,” said UA President Ann Weaver Hart. “It is gratifying to see many of the builders of the college involved in extending its reach through this fundraising campaign. The University will benefit from their generosity for years to come, and we thank them for their vision."

Donors to the scholarship campaign, dubbed Friends of Tucson Optics, or FoTO, include optics alumni and faculty, as well as industry business leaders, an optics industry association and even faculty from other prominent universities. A graduate student, who wishes to remain anonymous, established a scholarship in a war hero’s name, hoping that it would inspire fellow students to courageously pursue excellence in their careers.

Others include James Mayo III, who helped establish the college in 1964 and also became its first graduate. He funded a scholarship in honor of his family. UA faculty member Nicolaas Bloembergen, a 1981 Nobel Prize recipient in physics, also contributed.

John B. Hayes, who received his doctorate from the college in1984, and his wife, Jane C. Quale, bookended the campaign by funding the first two scholarships. They recently created the 30th.

“Optics is an exciting technology that touches almost everything we do,” Hayes said. “Our high-tech world would not be possible without the understanding and technology enabled by optical science. It is a tremendous privilege to support the future generations of optical scientists and engineers who will continue to further refine our understanding of optical phenomena and develop exciting new technologies.”

The scholarships contribute directly to the Arizona NOW campaign, which was launched publicly in April 2014 and concludes in June 2018. To date, the campaign is ahead of pace, with more than 70 percent of the goal met. The comprehensive fundraising campaign also is distinguished by its unprecedented scope and its ties to Never Settle, the UA’s strategic plan.

“Jim Wyant has dedicated his career to elevating the UA’s College of Optical Sciences, and today he sets a historic bar as a philanthropist,” said James H. Moore Jr., president and CEO of the UA Foundation. “It’s thrilling to see support for students – one of Arizona NOW’s key priorities – transcend what any of us imagined possible in the first year of the campaign’s public launch. We hope this inspires even more donors to set aspirational goals.”

About the University of Arizona
As Arizona’s land-grant university, established in 1885, the University of Arizona produces graduates who are recognized as global citizens, engaged leaders and fulfilled individuals. The university is a member of the Association of American Universities, an elite group of 62 institutions that excel in research and academic achievement. It conducts more than $625 million of research annually.