The university reached its $100 million fundraising goal and will have a $1.5 million endowment in President George E. Martin’s name.

These announcements came during the biannual state of the campus address March 9. In a full Mabee Ballroom of mostly faculty and staff, Martin highlighted the university’s success and progress in the past year.

Of the $100.2 million raised since 2007, $56.2 million was saved for the endowment, 23.9 million went into capital priorities and $20.1 million went into annual operations. These contributions from more than 14,000 donors, a quarter of which were alumni, allowed the fundraising goal to be met four months early.

“We’ll be able to continue our big work,” Martin said. “We’ll get on another campaign pretty soon.”

Additionally, Vice President for University Advancement Joe DeMedeiros made the board of trustees’ decision to approve the “Dr. George E. Martin Presidential Scholarship Endowment” of more than $1.5 million public. Monetary contribution came from more than 44 donors and will be used towards efforts such as summer activities.

“I’ve spent my whole professional life trying to create opportunities for deserving students,” Martin said. “And to think that students are being helped along in my name, is probably the greatest gift anybody can give me.”

As for the construction on campus, Martin said the process is on schedule. Main Building and the Operations Building are scheduled to be completed in April, the Pavilions in August and Holy Cross Hall in September.

Martin also announced that St. Edward’s produced eight finalists for the Fulbright Scholar Program in 2017.

Over the past five years, St. Edward’s ranks No. 3 in the nation of producing Fulbrights. Villanova University and Rollins College rank ahead.

The freshman application pool is smaller, but campus visits are up 13 percent, Martin said. The retention rate jumped from 80.5 percent in the 2015-16 academic year to 94 percent in 2016-17.

The six-year graduation rate at St. Edward’s stands at 63.6 percent, higher than the 42 percent graduation rate in 1999. The current graduation rate stands above the Texas rate of 54 percent and national rate of 59.6 percent.

An update on Investing For Our Future 2.0 was given by Vice President for Finance and Administration Kim Kvaal. IFOF 2.0 is “being sunset,” with more than 60 ideas being implemented or in the process of being completed, Kvaal said.

There will be four directional priorities determined by the Strategic Plan 2022 Steering Committee: Holy Cross community, student experience, institutional transformation and Austin community.

The committee will draft their recommendations to Martin in May, and a plan will be presented before the board of trustees in September.

Afterwards, there will be a final plan announced to the campus community.

Martin also recognized dozens of community members for their long-time service to St. Edward’s.

“These meetings are great because they help to bring the community together and to learn about all the things we should be so proud of as a community dedicated to education and students.”