Pacific University Receives Grant from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for Boxer Makerspace

Pacific University recently received a grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Wash., for the Boxer Makerspace, housed in the Tim & Cathy Tran Library on the Forest Grove Campus. This grant will allow the university to purchase equipment and technology for the new makerspace.

The Boxer Makerspace is a partnership between the University Libraries and the campus innovation center, the Berglund Center. The Boxer Makerspace combines the traditional concepts of a makerspace, including digital and physical prototyping, with support for cultural, artistic and scientific fields of inquiry, with the goal of providing specialized tools, training and equipment to all academic programs across the university.

Support from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust grant will provide 2D and 3D scanning equipment and a large format 3D printer, a CNC router, book production and binding equipment, video recording equipment and other technology for the makerspace. This equipment will enhance teaching and scholarly activities of Pacific faculty and students across disciplines, promote cross-disciplinary learning, and expose students and faculty to technologies, tools, and resources not readily found in their academic departments. 

“With the addition of the equipment that the Murdock Trust is funding, the Makerspace will be positioned to support scholarly activities on campus for years to come,” said J. Andy Soria, director of the Berglund Center and the Boxer Makerspace. “The new tools complement the existing equipment perfectly, opening the doors for full size prototyping that could be used in health-related applications such as in assistive, prosthetic or mobility devices.”

Pacific University is a diverse learning community, where students thrive in a personal academic environment. Tracing its roots to 1849, when it was chartered as a school for orphans of the Oregon Trail, Pacific has long been devoted to making a difference in the world.

Today, students study in a unique combination of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in the liberal arts and sciences, business, education, health professions and optometry. Pacific’s breadth of offerings provides students a rich atmosphere of discovery, as well as pathways to graduate programs and meaningful careers.

The University Libraries plays a key role in the university as an interdisciplinary hub for research and academic support. The Berglund Center, whose mission is to encourage innovation across the university, works with students from every college at Pacific to incubate and launch new student-led products, services and ideas within a multidisciplinary team structure.

“This partnership between the Libraries and the Berglund Center builds on our shared goal of supporting students and faculty in all disciplines as they create and apply new knowledge,” said Isaac Gilman, dean of University Libraries. “By creating this space in the Tran Library, we are opening up access and opportunities for more of our community to benefit from this type of applied learning.”

Pacific University is in the midst of its most ambitious comprehensive campaign to date. Lead On: The Campaign for Tomorrow at Pacific University aims to raise $80 million to strengthen endowments for student financial aid and program growth, expand learning facilities and resources, and invest in innovation and long-term growth on the way to creating an even brighter future for the Boxers of today and tomorrow.

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust was created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, who was a co-founder of Tektronix, Inc. in Beaverton, Ore., and a resident of Vancouver, Wash. Since its establishment in 1975, with a bequest of about $90 million, the trust has focused its grantmaking efforts primarily in five states of the Pacific Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The trust’s current assets are valued at about $1.3 billion, and over the life of the trust, more than $1 billion has been distributed through more than 6,700 grants.

The trust's mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants to organizations that seek to strengthen the region’s educational, social, cultural, and spiritual base in creative and sustainable ways. Grants are awarded to a wide variety of organizations, including those that serve the arts, public affairs, education, scientific research, health and medicine, human services, and people with disabilities.