Wabash College Dean for Advancement Joseph Emmick has announced that the liberal arts college for men has ended its “Campaign for Leadership” by raising a record total $136.1 million. The comprehensive capital campaign, begun in 1998, surpassed its goal of $132.5 million, and represents three times more money than the 172 year-old school had previously raised in a single campaign. The $136.1 million is believed to be the largest campaign total ever by a college with fewer than 900 students.
“Eclipsing our $132.5 million goal is exciting,” said Emmick. “However, what excites me most about this campaign is what it has done, and will do, for our students.”
Wabash’s Campaign for Leadership began with a goal of $100 million, which was extended in 2000 to accommodate a range of teaching and learning opportunities that surfaced during a two-year strategic planning process.
“Obviously I’m overjoyed with the enormous loyalty and generosity of Wabash’s alumni and friends, faculty and staff who made our Campaign success possible,” said Wabash President Andrew T. Ford. “But the real work of the Campaign can best be seen through the eyes of our students. We are now able to offer our students so much more than we could five years ago. Simply put, there are virtually no limits to what our students can achieve and accomplish at Wabash College.”
In addition to raising $136.1 million in gifts and pledges during the Campaign period, Wabash also received an additional $36 million, which did not count in the Campaign total. In 2001, Wabash received a $20.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. The College also received approximately $16 million from Lilly Endowment for ongoing work at the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, which was founded in 1995.
Among the highlights of the Campaign for Leadership’s work are:
•The Allen Athletics and Recreation Center, a $20 million, 170,000 square-foot athletics and recreation center with new aquatics center, fieldhouse, fitness center, and wellness facilities;
•State-of-the-art science facilities, including construction of a new $30 million biology and chemistry building and $5 million renovation of Goodrich Hall, home to the mathematics and computer science and physics departments;
•Establishment of “Cross Cultural Immersion Learning Programs,” which allow students to travel around the world as part of their coursework with no additional costs. More than 300 students have taken Immersion trips since the program began three years ago;
•An addition of $18 million in scholarship support for students;
•$2 million Malcolm X Institute for Black Studies, equipped with classrooms, computer lab, library, and kitchen;
•Renovation of Beta Theta Pi and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternities, and a new $4 million fraternity house for Sigma Chi. Construction on a new $4 million facility for Phi Delta Theta is set to begin this summer, while five other fraternity projects are scheduled to be completed;
•Establishment of up to 15 internships per year that provide cash stipends for students who elect to pursue a scholarly interest or activity not possible within the Wabash curriculum;
•Construction and establishment of Trippet Hall, home to the Wabash Admissions and Financial Aid offices, as well as the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. The facility contains 18 guest suites, offices, kitchen and dining room, and a state-of-the-art videoconference classroom;
•Broke records four years in a row for the total number of applications for admission to the College, surpassing 1,400 for 250 spots in the fall 2004 entering class. Much of that success has been due to alumni referrals of students, which annually total about 1,000 names;
•The development of the Wabash Ecuadorian Studies Program, which offers up to 20 students the opportunity to spend four weeks in the summer studying history, culture, politics, economics, critical thinking, and science at no cost to the students; and
•An increase in unrestricted gifts to the College’s Annual Fund, from just under $2 million at the start of the Campaign to $2.7 million in fiscal 2004.
“What is really most remarkable is what we have been able to accomplish during the course of the Campaign for Leadership,” said Thomas A. Hays ’55, who served as national chairman. “We improved our facilities; increased our enrollment; provided all-new opportunities for students; and built a lasting relationship with alumni and friends of the College.”
Another of the goals of the Campaign for Leadership was to reconnect alumni with the College. Wabash established regional alumni associations in more than two dozen cities; engaged alumni in teaching and learning programs all around the country; and established the Schroeder Career Center that actively works with alumni to secure employment and internship opportunities for Wabash students.
“Thanks to the campaign, there are more alumni doing more for Wabash than ever before,” added Emmick. “Alumni are referring students for admission, placing Wabash students in internships, appearing as guest lecturers, and mentoring our students. It has been remarkable to see the ways in which Wabash alumni have given of themselves on behalf of the College over the course of the Campaign.”
A few of the more creative gifts from alumni and friends of the College during the campaign have included:
•A summer internship that allows a student a generous stipend to dedicate time to writing original works of fiction;
•A generous scholarship package that rewards and encourages exceptional achievement in art;
•The College’s first professorship in biochemistry, as well as a biochemistry lecture series;
•A visiting writer series that brings to campus award-winning writers in residence;
•A public service internship fund, which provides financial resources for students who are pursuing public service internships during the summer;
•A fund that allows the current Dean to assist students with difficult financial circumstances;
•An endowed scholarship package that covers all costs associated with a semester of study in Europe; and
•The restoration of an area of the Fuller Arboretum to a natural woodland state with native Indiana wildflowers and trees.
Wabash’s previous largest capital campaign ended in the late 1980s and generated $42 million, which was used for renovation of the College’s Lilly Library, Fine Arts Center, and Detchon Center for Modern Languages and International Studies.
Founded in 1832, Wabash is a private liberal arts college for men located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Its 850 students hail from 34 states and 18 foreign countries. The College is ranked in the top tier of national liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report , and is featured with a chapter in Loren Pope’s book Colleges That Change Lives.
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