Binghamton University Foundation - Impact Report 2024-25
8,684 YOUR IMPACT IN FISCAL YEAR 2024-25
TOTAL DONORS:
BING PRIDE AND IMPACT ARE GROWING WORLDWIDE TOTAL DOLLARS RAISED:
$16,283,181 you … THANKS TO
Your impact on Binghamton’s future and our campus:
$26.9 million in donor-funded expenditures
(up 23% from $21.9 million the previous year)
More than 6,200 alumni, parents and friends gave to the Binghamton Fund, empowering students to grow, explore and thrive.
Our endowment is growing and valued at $250.7 million as of June 30, 2025
(up 12% from $223.5 million the previous year)
STUDENTS HAVE ACCESS TO AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION
The best students are choosing Binghamton
“I truly am grateful, and I will do my best to achieve my dream. Your support is important in helping me do that.”
— Alberto Farfan ’26
Alberto Farfan ’26 is one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming an immunologist who creates cures for genetic or infectious diseases, thanks to a Binghamton Fund Opportunity Scholarship that lightened the financial burden weighing on him and his family. The support motivates him. And, when he’s not focusing on academics, he’s excelling on the University’s fencing club team.
350 Students Received Binghamton Fund Opportunity Scholarships
Originally from Torreón, Mexico, Robles Valdez, MM ’25, was encouraged by a Binghamton faculty member to come to the United States to further dedicate herself to her craft — vocal performance. But affording the educational experience seemed out of reach, until she was awarded a Graduate Student of the Arts Scholarship two years in a row. The scholarship covers full tuition for selected graduate students with exceptional skills in performing, writing and visual arts.
“Thank you because you have changed my life. Your help has enriched me in a way that I will never forget.”
— Itzel Robles Valdez, MM ’25
1,832
Students
Received $6.2 million in donor-funded scholarships
“Binghamton was exactly the opportunity I needed in order to excel.”
— Kayla Buccellato-Singer ’24, MBA ’25
Kayla Buccellato-Singer ’24, MBA ’25, relished every opportunity to gain valuable marketing experience, which drew her to internships with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit branch of Sesame Street, and SiriusXM, where she drove new marketing tactics and promoted initiatives that highlighted value for customers. Multiple scholarships made possible by generous donors provided tremendous financial help to pave her way.
As an integrative neuroscience major, Kristen Eyer ’26 is building on her memory care work in a nursing home by conducting her own promising Alzheimer’s disease research at Binghamton. Her goal is to become a geriatrician who helps patients maintain their independence and improve their quality of life. Binghamton Fund donors helped Kristen receive an Undergraduate Research Award to dive deeper into her work and the momentum to pursue her dreams.
1,066 Students
“Coming to Binghamton was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
— Kristen Eyer ’26
Received $1.5 million in donor-supported awards, internship funding, research grants, fellowships and assistantships.
Boog Internship support made it possible for Kelcie Alba ’25 to spend a summer in Washington, D.C., working with the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. The funding covered living expenses so she could focus on immersing herself in understanding the relationship between the two countries. She networked and gained valuable insight from Japanese diplomats and State Department officials. Kelcie also received help from the Fleishman Professional Development Fund to buy professional clothing vital to success in her role.
“I don’t have the financial security that a lot of people do, but I’m not going to let that stop me. To have been granted that opportunity from donors was a dream come true. I’m very thankful.”
72 Students Received $19,000 in donor-supported Fleishman Professional Development Grants
— Kelcie Alba ’25
FACULTY HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO THRIVE you … THANKS TO
Faculty have essential resources to ignite innovation and creativity
A pair of $100,000 seed grants, made possible by The S. H. Ho Foundation Ltd., will propel work by two Binghamton faculty teams researching how to improve treatments for spinal cord injury patients and those grappling with one of the world’s most debilitating autoimmune diseases.
Siyuan Rao (biomedical engineering), Qianbin Wang (biomedical engineering) and Wenfeng Zhao (electrical and computer engineering) are working on “AI-Enhanced Soft-material Bioelectronics for Spinal Cord Injury Therapeutics.” This study intends to develop new soft bioelectronics capable of adapting to the spinal cord’s dynamic motion environment, an area where current neurotechnology often falls short, by integrating AI tools to analyze biological signals and uncover more effective therapeutic strategies.
“The seed grant has given us a valuable opportunity to bring together expertise across engineering disciplines to address the complex challenges of spinal cord injury,” said Rao, an assistant professor of biomedical
engineering. “Only through collective effort can we develop the transformative tools needed to tackle such complex problems and bring new hope for spinal cord injury therapeutics.”
Melissa Morales and Nathan Tumey (pharmaceutical sciences) are examining “Development of Antibody-Glucocorticoid Conjugates for the Treatment of Lupus.” Most lupus patients rely on glucocorticoids (GCs), which, while effective, can bring lifelong side effects. This study uses antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) technology in an attempt to deliver GCs to specific immune cells more precisely, limiting systemic exposure and reducing side effects.
“This grant provides the support needed to test this innovative strategy and move toward new treatment options that improve patients’ quality of life,” said Morales, an assistant professor. “The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life for people living with lupus and, in the long term, for patients with other autoimmune diseases as well.”
Siyuan Rao Qianbin Wang Wenfeng Zhao
Melissa Morales Nathan Tumey
Knowing the impact of federal funding cuts, freezes and reallocations on people and programs, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger ’70, LHD ’00, and her husband, Charles, stepped up, giving to the Binghamton Fund for Harpur College to provide flexible and unrestricted support so it could go quickly where it’s needed most.
When a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities toward Associate Professor of Comparative Literature Giovanna Montenegro’s book was terminated by the federal government in the spring, donors to the Binghamton Fund for Harpur College, and other University resources, made all the difference in her ability to complete her research.
Montenegro’s yearlong project, Subverting Colonial Fantasies: Maroon and Indigenous Environmental Resistance in the Guianas, explores the history of environmental organization by indigenous and Maroon groups in Suriname and the Guianas from the 1650s to the present. She is essentially asking
whether a kind of “El Dorado” exists in the Guianas, and why neo-colonial, extractivist projects continue to see that region as such.
So far, her research has included archival studies of colonial maps in the Netherlands that show the Dutch military offensive campaigns against the Saamaka maroons. Most recently, it’s taken her to Germany, where she’s been researching archives of 18th-century diaries left by German-speaking Moravian missionaries whom the Dutch colonial government permitted to evangelize the Saamaka maroons in Suriname after a peace treaty in 1762.
“None of it would have been possible without this critical funding.”
— Associate Professor Giovanna Montenegro, in the forests of Suriname
THE BINGHAMTON EXPERIENCE STANDS OUT you … THANKS TO
Students have crucial support to embark on extraordinary futures
“It is a rare gift to be able to have a stake in the future of such a strong University.”
— Janet C. Watrous*
A seven-figure commitment from Robert C. Kochersberger and Janet C. Watrous is significantly enhancing the Binghamton University Center for Community Schools and its local impact.
A major component of the center is the Binghamton University Community Schools (BUCS) program that serves as a partnership among the University, school districts and community agencies to enrich the educational experience for Southern Tier students and reduce barriers to learning for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade through the University-Assisted Community Schools model.
When fully realized, the couple’s gift will increase exponentially the program budget to enhance learning opportunities, integrated student supports, collaborative leadership, interdisciplinary research
and opportunities for civic engagement for University students, said Laura Bronstein, dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs and the center’s founding director.
The center has been renamed the Couper-Owens Center for Community Schools, in recognition of their generosity. The name pays tribute to Watrous’ family — Esther and Ed Couper, her late grandparents — and to Kochersberger’s late mother, Marjorie Mae Owens.
Watrous and Kochersberger took a blended approach to their gift by using a variety of current and deferred giving, including a bequest. Their planned giving makes them members of a special community at Binghamton: the Esther W. Couper Legacy Giving Circle.
*Watrous died in October 2025, prior to publication of this report.
“Giving back to Binghamton is my way of showing gratitude for the foundation they provided for my career.”
— James B. Bankoski ’91
Since fall 2024, Students enrolled in Binghamton Codes! courses have access to a new Binghamton Codes! Center, located across from the College in the Woods Library. The program, launched in 2020 and established by James B. Bankoski ’91 and his wife, Heather, teaches the basics of programming to students of all majors and even if they have no prior experience with it, helping close the gender and racial gap in technology. Their generosity also supports Binghamton’s digital and data studies minor, the most popular minor at the University.
Donors to the Binghamton Fund for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and other supporters expanded a paid summer research program that enables students such as Sofia Ruggiero to pursue hands-on, faculty-guided research that connects classroom knowledge with real-world applications. Her project focused on healthcare in rural and underserved populations and how to effectively train future pharmacists, nurses, social workers, physicians and public health scientists to support these communities. Rather than simply reading studies, Sofia immersed herself in writing a proposal, analyzing data and collaborating with a team.
“This was my first time getting involved in research. I learned more about teamwork and communication and had the opportunity to utilize these skills throughout my research.”
— Sofia Ruggiero, doctoral student in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
As a first-year student, Lia Richter ’25 joined the donorsupported Source Project, a research experience she described as something she could “only do at Binghamton.” That opportunity opened doors.
She built close relationships with faculty mentors, explored the role of disinformation in a 1930s sterilization trial and discovered a love for research that would shape the rest of her college journey.
Lia took her research even further, thanks to Binghamton Fund donors who make Summer Scholars and Artists Program awards possible. Through this intensive, facultymentored program, Lia traveled to an archive in Minnesota, where she continued her Source Project work and gained hands-on experience in archival research.
Donors provide essential support to enhance the First-year Research Immersion Program. In this FRI class in April 2025, a student collects water samples in the Nature Preserve to test for DNA from a wildlife disease.
