Jon Mark Beilue: 'We are tilling new soil'

One West campaign: $107,755,000 with more to reach

Dr. Walter Wendler was up for the challenge. Think of it as Wordle for press conferences, and the West Texas A&M University president nailed it in his opening on March 23.

“Todd (Rasberry, vice-president of philanthropy and executive director of the WTAMU Foundation) opened the segment by saying we are in the Fairly Group Club of the Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium,” Wendler said.

“He left his part out – the event is being simulcast in the Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences which happens to be adjacent to the Geneva Schaeffer Education Building. Todd said, ’I bet you can’t use all those words in one sentence.’ Well, I just did.”

It was a mouthful – and a mouthful of dollars. That sentence – actually a sentence-and-a-half – represents approximately $12.5 million to the University. They are significant building blocks of the One West campaign , a $125 million comprehensive fundraising effort that is not only the largest campaign WT has ever attempted, but believed to be the largest single fundraiser ever in the Texas Panhandle.

The March 23 press conference was a milestone marker, a time for reflection, a time to exhale and exchange a few pats on the back, but also a time to put the boots back on, knowing the goal is not quite there.

The event was the six-month anniversary since the One West campaign went public. If anyone was curious where the campaign stood just a half-year later, it was evident on a maroon background screen on a wall behind the dais:

$107,755,000.

“While today’s announcement is significant for WT, it is not a place to rest,” said Terry Rogers, co-chair, along with husband Dyke Rogers, of the campaign. “We will use the exciting momentum generated by the One West campaign to push harder to reach our $125 million goal.

“This should be a large and ambitious campaign because WT plays an important and vital role to students, families and communities in the Panhandle and across the region and even the state, nation and around the globe.”

The public announcement of the money raised had been more than four years in the making. The silent phase of fundraising began in September 2017, just more than a year after Wendler became WT’s 11th president.

About $80 million was raised in the next four years with cattleman Paul Engler’s annual gifts accounting for about 25 percent of that. In six months, since going public, the One West campaign has raised an additional $27.7 million. The campaign can continue until Dec. 31, 2025 – still three years and nine months away.

‘Not your daddy’s university’

Photo: Dr. Todd Rasberry, left, vice president for philanthropy and external relations, and President Walter V. Wendler, right, flank members of West Texas A&M University’s One West campaign leadership committee: David Schaeffer, Jim J. Brewer, Terry Rogers, Dyke Rogers and Cheryl Fairly. The One West campaign has raised nearly $108 million just six months after its public launch.

“The One West campaign is comprehensive, which means any philanthropic gift to WT is part of the campaign,” said Dyke Rogers, who provided $5 million for the naming of the College of Education and Social Sciences in honor of his wife.

“We want donors to give to the people, program and places about which they feel most passionate. We will reach our ($125 million) goal earlier than anticipated. We will not stop raising money until the last day of the campaign in 2025. So let’s take a deep breath and get busy – as if they people who are involved in this aren’t.”

A 1970 graduate of WT, Rogers often uses a then/now comparison of his alma mater. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he recalls what WT was like. Friends, fellow WT graduates, were reluctant to nail a diploma or place WT memorabilia in their offices.

There was some division and apathy in the ranks. The vision was stagnant. The campus was staid. Enrollment was dwindling. Success on the football field in the mid-2000s – often described as the “front porch” of a university – began to fuel a resurgence that has carried over to almost every facet of the University.

“The One West campaign has raised all expectations of what is attainable at this great university,” Rogers said. “I want to repeat this again – my observation as a WT graduate and as a volunteer leader and donor, this is not your daddy’s university. We have witnessed the exciting growth and transformation of WT. I’m astounded and pleased of what this university has become and aspires to become.”

To raise nearly $109 million takes more than heavyhitters. It takes many, some of whom have long since found open wall space for their diplomas and room for a stuffed buffalo or two.

More than 5,500 donors have provided 42,984 gifts in the One West campaign. “I Am WT,” the university’s annual campaign for faculty, staff and retirees, saw an 86 percent increase from 2020 to 2021. WT also saw a 68 percent increase in donors in the 2021 The Panhandle Gives campaign in November.

“One person or a small group of people can’t do it. It takes a large group of people with an extended commitment to what we’re trying to do at WT,” Wendler said.

“I will say, having worked at a number of universities, it is remarkable for me to see the West Texas spirit come alive in an organization like this one to support these powerful values and traditions and a view of the future that is bright and optimistic.”

One West is broad, funding any area a donor wishes. It will pump money into the lifeblood of a university – facilities, scholarships, endowments, research, faculty salaries. It is the essentials, that when neglected, cause a university to wither, but when prioritized, make a university vibrant.

“We are overpowered by a kind of abiding optimism with what we want to do here,” Wendler said. “I’m going to say this – and who can disprove it – I don’t think it’s equal to any other public university in America. We are doing something truly unique. It is not only our identity, but our responsibility to serve first here, serve locally, serve well.”

Wendler, a native New Yorker, has self-deprecatingly referred to himself as a “damn Yankee” on more than one occasion. His understanding of agriculture, he said, doesn’t extend much further than seeing a tomato plant in a clay pot on his back porch yield seven tomatoes.

“But I know I like agriculture,” he said. “I like the people who partake in it. I like the commitment to family, faith and community. That creates and sustains a culture.

“The things that face our future at WT will be overcome by hard work, risk-taking, intelligence and commitment. That’s what this campaign will support in the coming years. It energizes me, and more importantly, reenergizes you. We are tilling new soil.”

Do you know of a student, faculty member, project, an alumnus or any other story idea for “WT: The Heart and Soul of the Texas Panhandle?” If so, email Jon Mark Beilue at jbeilue@wtamu.edu .