The IST Office of College Advancement seeks to fulfill the fundraising needs of the College of Information Sciences and Technology by securing gifts from alumni, friends, and corporations for featured objectives, including endowments and the new IST Building.

The Office of College Advancement is committed to identifying, cultivating, soliciting and creating awareness among a multi-interest alumni and friend's constituency in order to build a strong donor base for IST. We do this by encouraging and leveraging collaboration with internal IST units, by seeking active interdisciplinary collaboration across college units and with other Penn State campuses, and by promoting active collaboration with business and industry.

During the Grand Destiny Campaign, the college raised more than $13 million in donations. Over the next four years (2004-2007) the development office has been challenged to raise $7 million for IST as part of the University’s Investing in People Initiative.

This support is broken into the following five categories:

• $2 million in Faculty Support
• $1.5 million in Trustee Scholarships
• $2 million in Academic Initiatives which includes the dean’s excellence fund, graduate fellowships, funding for labs, centers and institutes, and IST campus college program fund.
• $1million in Building Support
• $500,000 in Sustaining Support (annual giving dollars)

The Office of College Advancement also is charged with alumni relations for the college. The IST Alumni Society is committed to establishing a professional network that both the Alumni and the college can leverage. Their four key initiatives include: recruiting, retaining, fund raising, and marketing.