Rowan University on Friday announced the public phase of its $240 million fundraising campaign with the goals of supporting student scholarships, research, and further development of its West campus.
The school launched the quiet phase of the campaign four years ago, shortly after the previous campaign for $120 million, which was the first in Rowan’s history, had ended.
The New Jersey state university, said President Ali A. Houshmand, already has collected $210 million toward the goal. Big gifts include: $85 million from Virtua Health; $30 million from Jerry and Melanie Shreiber for the new veterinary school, which opened this fall; and $7 million from Rita and Larry Salva for the school of nursing and health professions.
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While Rowan needs only $30 million more to reach its goal, most campaigns tend to exceed their target. The end date for the campaign is June.
“Thirty million is not a small amount of money,” Houshmand said. “We have to work hard at it.”
The campaign comes as Rowan continues to grow, having approximately doubled its enrollment over the last 12 years. Total enrollment exceeded 24,200 in 2024-25, the university said. While final numbers aren’t available for this fall, the university estimates its enrollment will be up — that’s even though Rowan has had a drop of 250 in international students. Some other colleges also have reported drops in international students following delays in visa processing and travel bans instituted by President Donald Trump’s administration.
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“They were supposed to come and they couldn’t secure their visas,” Houshmand said of Rowan’s international students who didn’t make it to campus.
Rowan said the campaign funds will be used to improve the student experience through scholarships, wellness initiatives, and career programming.
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“I would like to create a campus where people can send their children, their loved ones, where they can number one get a good education… a place where they are absolutely safe, and …a place where they can express their views,” Houshmand said.
Houshmand brought up the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University earlier this month.
“I don’t want the terrible thing that happened at Utah Valley, the murder of Mr. Kirk … to ever happen anywhere,” he said. “It is very, very sad that it happened, especially on a campus. A campus is a place where people send their loved ones and entrust them to us to take care of them.”
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Research and innovation, particularly at the intersection of medicine, engineering and sciences, will get funding, he said.
And, on the West campus, the university is continuing plans for a wellness village on 220 acres, near Inspira Health’s Mullica Hill campus. That would likely take a decade and feature different types of housing and therapeutic activity. He also envisions a manufacturing hub and a new nursing school and potentially a new home for Rowan’s school of osteopathic medicine.
“Over the next 10 years, you’re looking at at least a couple of billion dollars more of development in this area,” he said.