Centre College: Centre announces more than $117 million toward $120 million campaign goal at trustees meeting

Centre announces more than $117 million toward $120 million campaign goal at trustees meeting

RELEASED: Feb. 2, 2006

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College continues to make remarkable progress in fundraising, student recruitment, strategic planning, and faculty recruitment, according to reports delivered to the Board of Trustees at its annual winter meeting last weekend at Louisville's Seelbach Hotel.

The keynote speaker was Wayne Meisel, president of the Bonner Foundation, a national organization that seeks to develop "thoughtful, caring, and diverse" student leaders dedicated to community service.

Robert T. Brockman of Houston, Texas, was elected vice chairman of the board of trustees, effective immediately, replacing Nelson D. Rodes Jr. of Danville, who has served as vice chairman for nearly two decades. Rodes was elected to life trustee status, effective immediately.

FUNDRAISING
Trustees learned that the Campaign for A More Perfect Centre is advancing rapidly toward its overall goal of $120 million, with commitments to the effort now totaling $117.1 million. Publicly announced in January 2004, the Campaign will run through December 2007. "We're extremely gratified to have total commitments approaching the overall goal of the Campaign at this early date," said Richard Trollinger, vice president for College relations. "However, much work needs to be done in order to meet or exceed all the individual goals in the fund-raising effort."

In addition, trustees learned that the College's mid-year alumni participation rate in annual giving is at 31 percent. This puts Centre on pace to recapture the nation's No. 1 spot in alumni giving. Although Centre slipped to a third-place tie with Williams last year (following Amherst and Davidson), the College has led the nation in alumni annual giving for 16 of the last 22 years.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Clarence Wyatt, Pottinger Associate Professor of History and special assistant to the president, and Jacky Thomas, associate director of alumni affairs and planning associate, reported to the Board Planning Committee on the College's strategic planning effort. That work, supported by a major gift from an anonymous donor, has focused in its early stages on strategic research and opportunity assessment, conducted with the assistance of the STRATUS Group, a higher education research and planning firm based in Los Angeles. The Planning Committee, co-chaired by Elizabeth Kennan and Rutheford "Biff" Campbell, discussed the findings of the research thus far, including the results of a two-day on-campus workshop held earlier this month, with College staff and members of the STRATUS group.

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
John C. Ward, vice president of academic affairs, announced the approval of six new tenure-track positions, the most at this time of the year in the College's history. The new hires are: Jason Neiser, physics; Ken McIntyre, government; Nathan Link, music; Ian Wilson, German; Brian Cusato, psychology; and Melissa Burns-Cusato, psychology.

STUDENT RECRUITMENT
Carey Thompson, dean of admission and student financial planning, announced that the College has experienced an eight percent increase in applications over the total received at this time last year. Last year the College received a record 1,993 freshmen applications. This year, Early Action applicants are up approximately 14 percent and in-state applications are up by 10 percent.

Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/