Oregon State University's demand for bandwidth to support scientific collaboration and research continues to grow exponentially, while state funding declines due to hard economic times. The challenge faced by these authors was to find creative yet fiscally responsible ways to meet OSU's bandwidth demands. Looking at their options for high-capacity bandwidth to the commodity Internet and Internet2, they hit upon just such a creative solution--they partnered with a data service provider to build their own regional dark fiber network. They learned that NERO had acquired access to dark fiber installed by Level 3 Communications from Eugene to Portland, landing in the Pittock Internet Exchange. For OSU, this dark-fiber access held fantastic potential, but it was just out of reach: that fiber path lay 20 miles to the east of the university. Their challenge was how to get the 20 miles of connecting fiber built and managed. In the spring of 2002, Ben Doty stopped in for a visit and to talk about his new venture, NoaNet Oregon. NoaNet is a 503.c.12 nonprofit cooperative that builds and operates "public purpose" data networks. Originally intended as just a friendly visit, this conversation soon led to serious discussions regarding how OSU and NoaNet might work together on the build-out of fiber. A deal was struck, and a partnership was born. The end result of building their fiber link is that OSU has dramatically and immediately increased their off-campus bandwidth. (Contains 2 figures and 1 endnote.)