Trustees meeting highlights achievements in development and admission

RELEASED: April 10, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—The Centre College Board of Trustees met on campus Thursday, April 10 and Friday, April 11 for their spring meeting.

DEVELOPMENT
Richard Trollinger, vice president for college relations, announced that alumni giving is at its highest rate ever at this point in the year: 50 percent of Centre alumni had made a gift to the College by the first week in March. The College continues to work to recapture the No. 1 national ranking in percentage of alumni making annual gifts. Since the start of the current fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2007, Centre has received gifts and grants totaling just over $15 million, from all donor sources.

Trollinger also reported that planning is well under way for the three construction projects being made possible by the "Trustee Challenge." Issued last spring by a small group of the College's trustees, who together committed $22.5 million to the effort, the "Trustee Challenge" seeks to raise an additional $5 million to complete the funding required for these projects. The three projects are the construction of a new campus center (replacing Cowan Dining Commons), a new science and math facility (adjoining Young Hall) and the refurbishment of the College's Norton Center for the Arts. Each of these projects has a committee of faculty, students and staff that is working with architects on designs. A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new campus center was held Friday on campus. Actual construction of the campus center is slated to begin just after Commencement. All three of these projects will be completed within the next 27 months.


In addition, the construction of Pearl Hall, the College's newest residence facility, despite recent heavy rain, is on schedule. Pearl Hall will be open for students in August 2008 and will be dedicated during homecoming festivities in October 2009.

ADMISSION
It was announced that Centre enjoyed its strongest year ever in applications. For the Class of 2012, a record 2,150 students have applied. The College also marked its strongest year ever in out-of-state applications.

In addition, J. Carey Thompson, vice president for enrollment and student planning services, reported that retention for the current first-year class is outstanding. Of the class, 98 percent are enrolled and advancing toward graduation in 2011.

Fabritius also reported on the College's first annual Centre Undergraduate Symposium to be held on Thursday, April 17. Entitled "Got RICE?: Research, Internships and Creative Endeavors," the daylong event will include 116 students from 24 different academic programs conducting 86 presentations for the campus and public community. The event is designed to celebrate students' academic work over the past year and to exemplify the College's recent strategic-plan goal of increasing students' opportunities for engaged and experiential learning.

In addition, officers of the Board who were elected for the 2008-09 year include Robert T. Brockman, chairman; Randal B. Kell, vice chairman; James D. Rouse, secretary; John A. Roush, president of the College; and Yvonne York Morley, assistant secretary.

The next scheduled meeting of the Centre Board of Trustees will be on the College's campus October 23 and 24.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. 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/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.