Education as a grantmaking area has had a significant position in the Bush strategy from the Foundation’s beginning. It was a high priority for both founder Archibald Bush and the Foundation’s first non-family Board member, former Minnesota Governor, Elmer L. Andersen. Bush was a major donor to and served on the Board of Hamline University. Andersen was a strong supporter of the University of Minnesota. He was also instrumental in hiring college administrator and economist Humphrey Doermann in 1971 as the Foundation’s first executive director and, eventually, president. Each of these three men played a significant role in developing the Foundation’s education agenda.
 
As a major comprehensive research university, the University of Minnesota was viewed as a preeminent source of research and leadership for Minnesota. For many years, the University of Minnesota was the largest single recipient of Bush Foundation grants.
 
Bush and Andersen also were interested in the private colleges since these institutions were also a source of leadership in the state. The Foundation Board’s interest in private colleges dates to the early 1970s when the Foundation, selectively, launched a program of matching grants to encourage alumni giving to Minnesota’s private colleges. As the Foundation’s assets grew, the Board extended eligibility for capital and endowment challenge grants to improve the financial stability of private colleges in Minnesota and North and South Dakota, as well as private college members of the United Negro College Fund throughout the United States.
 
In 1980, the Foundation turned its attention to faculty development and awarded its first faculty development planning and program grants to regional institutions. This became a major area of focus for the Foundation in the next two decades.
 
Also in the 1980s, desiring to reach a more diverse group of applicant institutions, the Board decided to extend its faculty development program to tribal colleges and to private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Reasoning that national leadership in Native and African American communities came disproportionately from these institutions, the Board approved a plan that was similar to that for the regional (Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota) program for private colleges. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation partnered with Bush on the faculty development programs for HBCUs. The faculty development program for HBCUs also gained support from the United Negro College Fund and spawned a professional development network that included faculty from public HBCUs.
 
The Foundation’s support of faculty development enhanced the focus on teaching and learning in many colleges and universities, achieving a lasting impact in these institutions.