Released: Oct. 15, 1999

Centre College trustees hold fall meeting on campus

DANVILLE, KY-The Centre College board of trustees held its fall meeting on campus Friday, Oct. 15, adopting a new strategic plan that will guide the college through 2005. The plan, which was endorsed earlier this month by Centre faculty members, administrators and student leaders, calls for continued enhancement of the college's academic environment, limited enrollment growth and improved campus technology.

The plan suggests that Centre retain its identity as a small, selective college by keeping enrollment in the current range of 1,000 to 1,100 students. The technology portion of the plan mandates that Centre develop a "comprehensive and creative vision of information technology's role in the liberal arts and sciences education." The college also will establish a restricted endowment fund designated to support information technology.

In other news from the trustee meeting, Centre's trustee committee on finance and investment reported that official audit figures showed the Centre endowment to have reached $154.6 million as of June 30, a record for the college. To give closer attention to endowment and market trends, the trustees established a permanent subcommittee on investment management.

The audit report also showed a slight surplus in operating funds for the 1998-99 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

The academic affairs division reported to the trustees that Centre had a strong retention rate for first-year students who enrolled in the fall of 1998. Among that class, 87 percent have returned for the sophomore year. The report also showed that retention figures have moved upward among sophomores and juniors in the past three years.

Three new trustees attended their first meeting of the board. They are Peggy Purdom Patterson, a Harrodsburg native and 1972 Centre graduate who serves as magistrate judge with the U.S. District Court in Ashland; G. Watts Humphrey, chairman of The Blood Horse publishing company and owner of Shawnee Farm in Harrodsburg; and Mark E. Nunnelly, a Covington native and 1980 Centre graduate who is a managing director of Bain Capital based in Boston.

J. David Grissom of Louisville serves as chairman of the board. John A. Roush is president of the college.

- end -

Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422

Coordinator of Public Information: Patsi Barnes Trollinger
Telephone 606-238-5719 · trllngrp@centre.edu