QUALCOMM and SDSU are deeply committed to improving our community. This partnership represents a true collaboration, combining our strengths and resources to make a sustainable difference in our region’s educational system. - Irwin Mark Jacobs Chairman and CEO, QUALCOMM

San Diego State and QUALCOMM Incorporated have announced a $14.5 million gift from QUALCOMM to create the QUALCOMM Institute for Innovation and Educational Success at SDSU.

The Institute’s mission is to identify and address major issues critical to the long-term prosperity of the San Diego region. At the outset, it will fund four key initiatives, allocating:

• $5.5 million to expand the successful Improving Student Achievement in Mathematics (ISAM) program led by SDSU’s College of Education. ISAM is designed to improve public school mathematics instruction by enhancing teachers’ subject knowledge and instructional effectiveness.

• $1.4 million to expand SDSU’s involvement in Project Lead The Way. SDSU’s College of Engineering runs the only Project Lead The Way program in California, training middle school and high school teachers to integrate problem-based, pre-engineering coursework into their classes and encouraging young students to pursue engineering degrees in college.

• $2.6 million to accelerate SDSU’s recently launched People Information, Communication and Technology (pICT) program across the curriculum. The goal of the interdisciplinary pICT program is to equip all SDSU graduates with enhanced skills in applying advanced information technology and working in collaborative decision-making environments.

• $2.4 million to help launch the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) within SDSU’s College of Education. The NCUST will work to enable public schools to tackle the issues present in urban classrooms and communities, and will serve as a catalyst for transformation in urban schools across the nation.

The seeds of QUALCOMM’S gift, the largest from a corporation in SDSU’s history, were planted during a conversation between President Stephen Weber and Dan Sullivan, QUALCOMM’S executive vice president for human resources. Sullivan proposed that SDSU identify mutual goals the two San Diego institutions could tackle together.

“QUALCOMM had the vision for us to work together to find a way to make a distinct and widespread contribution to improving our region’s overall quality of life, and it became clear that education was the first critical issue we should address,” Weber said. “The Institute’s mission is to develop a new strategic plan for education in San Diego, one that broadens the traditional scope of literacy to include a much higher level of mathematical and technical ability.”

Three of the four initiatives are aimed directly at improving students’ mathematical and technical skills. “Infusing these existing SDSU programs with new funding from QUALCOMM will help expand them,” said Kim Hill, associate vice president for development.

Hill was the facilitator between QUALCOMM executives and the deans who designed the blueprint for the QUALCOMM Institute for Innovation and Educational Success – the College of Education’s Lionel (Skip) Meno, the College of Engineering’s David Hayhurst and the Division of Undergraduate Studies’ Geoffrey Chase.

“Building a culture of philanthropy is the overarching theme in University Advancement,” said Vice President Theresa Mendoza. “The seamless partnerships that Kim Hill and Deans Chase, Hayhurst and Meno formed is a premier example of the successful outcomes we can expect when we work together.”  

As a partner in the QUALCOMM Institute for Innovation and Educational Success, SDSU has agreed to raise an additional $15.1 million in private support for the key initiatives. That effort will include hiring an “executive-in-residence” who, as part of his or her duties, will raise awareness of the institute’s mission, and help launch a Corporate Partners Program. The QUALCOMM gift includes additional resources to support the executive-in-residence.

In addition, QUALCOMM is contributing $2.5 million to the President’s Leadership Fund at SDSU, which will enable it to invest in other programs on campus that complement the goals of the new institute. QUALCOMM has already contributed more than $10 million to SDSU since the early 1990s to support a range of programs that address regional needs.