The University recently hired a man who previously spearheaded fundraising for Washington State University to help lead its fundraising campaign in an effort to raise money in private donations.
The University named Shane Giese the new associate vice president of development on March 29. He begins work on May 1.
Giese replaces Joel Munson, who left the University last November for a position at the University of Southampton in Great Britain.
Giese will work on Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives, the University’s $600 million fundraising campaign.
Vice President for Advancement Allan Price said the people who do the fundraising groundwork for Campaign Oregon will report to Giese, who will in turn report to Price. Price said Giese will be perfect for the management position.
Price said he was impressed by Giese’s long career in development. Giese worked in fundraising at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., in the late 1980s. For the past 15 years, Giese worked as a senior vice president at Washington State University Foundation, the fundraising body for the 23,000-student university.
“I am delighted that Shane will be coming to Oregon to further strengthen our fundraising capacity,” Price stated in a press release. “His experience at Washington State will prove to be very valuable as we continue to work toward achievement of Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives.”
According to Campaign Oregon documents, the money raised goes to the University’s nine major departments, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University libraries, Duck athletics and the Oregon Bach Festival. The development office already allocated $407.5 million to $459.5 million to four areas, which the office calls Opportunity, Inspiration, Discovery and Connection.
Opportunity focuses on students, primarily offering financial aid and scholarships, but also on improving undergraduate education through Freshman Interest Groups, the Robert D. Clark Honors College and study-abroad programs. This area will receive $108 million to $110 million.
Inspiration focuses on faculty, buildings and equipment. The money will pay for guest speakers; renovations of PLC , Allen Hall, Lillis Business Complex and the School of Music and Dance; new musical instruments; and it will double the number of endowed faculty positions, from 75 to 150. This area will receive $125 million.
Discovery will help pay for specific departmental programs, such as the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute and the Media Ethics and Democracy Initiative, but will also pay for graduate teaching fellowships. Discovery will receive $24.5 million.
Connection will help pay for the new basketball arena being built on the former site of Williams Bakery on East 13th Avenue. Connection will also pay for the new residence halls on campus and for sustaining endowment of the Oregon Bach Festival, an annual series of concerts held on the University grounds. Connection will receive $150 million to $200 million.
“The campaign has already done much to highlight this university’s importance to the state and the nation and we look forward to Shane’s leadership in completing the state’s largest university fundraising campaign,” University President Dave Frohnmayer stated in a press release.
WSU Director of Communications Trevor Durham, a former co-worker of Giese’s, said he is both “a great guy” and “great to work with.”
“I’m sorry to see him go,” Durham said, “but I’m also happy for his new opportunity.”
Giese could not be reached for comment.

Contact the general assignment reporter at [email protected]