By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief
The university announced Saturday a far-reaching campaign to raise $150 million by the end of 2006.
With a theme of “Called to Faith and Excellence,” the Centennial Campaign is the largest in university history and includes plans to construct at least two buildings, renovate a third and expand the school’s scholarship base.
“This is very much a faith goal,”said Dr. Royce Money, university president. “We do not know where all this money is coming from. … There is definitely a faith element.”
Nearly $57 million has been raised toward the goal since the campaign began Jan. 1, 2001. The $150 million goal is a minimum, Money said-the university will solicit funds up to the campaign’s Dec. 31, 2006, close.
The Board of Trustees already has committed more than $31 million to the campaign, said Don Crisp, chairman of the Board and co-chair of the Centennial Campaign.
The campaign, which commemorates the university’s 100th birthday in 2006, has eight initiatives, according to documents released by the university.
Among them are the construction of an Alumni Welcome Center, ensuring “that no student is denied access to ACU because of financial need” and building and renovating several academic buildings.
New construction included in the campaign includes the Welcome Center, possibly combined into an academic building with three departments; a Wellness-Fitness Center; the off-campus Zoe Conference Center; a lighted jogging track; a possible second floor to the Campus Center; and a major expansion of and facelift to Burford Music Center.
The campaign also calls massively expanding scholarship awards by 2010, a goal supplemented by a new Second Century Scholarship program to fund presidential, trustee and National Merit scholarships, as well as need-based financial aid.
Academically, the Department of Education and the Honors Program would be upgraded to a school and a college, respectively.
Other significant goals include reducing faculty-student ratios in freshman and sophomore Bible classes, updating classrooms across campus for Internet and wireless access and the creation of a Center for Christians and the Arts.
“These are still being talked about by the administration and the trustees as to the expected form they’ll take,” Money said.
The university’s previous fund-raising campaign, “To Lead and to Serve,” raised $114 million and included a cornerstone donation by Trustee J. McDonald Williams for the Performing Arts Center that bears his name.
In this campaign, $40 million will be used for capital projects, including:
* Construction of the Alumni Welcome Center on the east side of campus
* A building for the departments of Sociology and Social Work, Psychology and Political Science, possibly combined with the Welcome Center
* Construction of a Wellness-Fitness Center north of the Campus Center that would include an indoor jogging track and rock-climbing wall
* Construction of the Zoe Conference Center on an already-donated site southeast of campus on East North 10th Street and Loop 322.
* Full renovation and expansion of Burford Music Center for the new School of Education
Another $95 million in gifts would fund the university’s endowment and provide for scholarships, endowed chairs and additional faculty and staff, and the campaign asks donors for a collective $16.4 million for the Annual Fund, which covers the 50 percent of the university’s educational costs not paid by student tuition.
“There’s an aggressive need for gifts,” said Dr. John Tyson, vice president of Development. “Gifts provide the necessities of existence at a place like ACU.”
