April 17, 2007
Pellissippi State major gifts campaign goes public
Officials at Pellissippi State announced today that the college is embarking on a major gifts campaign to raise $6 million for programs to benefit students and faculty; furnish new facilities, including providing technology upgrades; and strengthen the college’s overall endowment.It is the largest major fundraising initiative in the college’s 33-year history.
The campaign officially kicked off with a brief program at 11 a.m. in the Performing Arts Center on the Pellissippi Campus on Hardin Valley Road.
Allen Edwards, Pellissippi State president, announced the goal and said that $4.2 million has already been raised, including $127,000 in gifts and pledges from faculty and staff.
Robin Wilhoit, news anchor at WBIR-TV Channel 10, served as emcee for the program, which also included remarks by key campaign volunteer leaders.
“Connecting Communities, Changing Lives, the theme of the campaign, reflects a broad effort to attract new private funding that will benefit students and the communities where they live and work,” said Edwards.
Pellissippi State’s rapidly growing enrollment is a major factor in the need for additional financial support, he said. The four campuses in Knox and Blount counties attracted a record 8,188 students last fall, and spring semester enrollment increased by more than seven percent over last spring’s numbers.
Edwards says he is pleased that the community has come to rely on the college to meet the technical and academic needs of the region.
“The growth in student enrollment represents great things for our community,” he said, “but it also presents certain challenges for us.
“If we are to continue to meet the expectations of our students and the local businesses and industries we serve, it is increasingly clear that we will have to reach out to individuals, corporations and foundations for private support to help us meet our long-range goals.”
Co-chairing the Knox County campaign are Cathy Ackermann, president of Ackermann PR; John Fisher, a wealth management financial consultant with the Fisher Group/Smith Barney; and Joseph L. Johnson, owner of A&W Office Supply.
Blount County campaign co-chairs are Maryville community leader Peggy McCord and Steve West of West Chevrolet in Alcoa.
Speakers at the kickoff included David Wooley, 2007-2008 chair of the Pellissippi State Foundation Board of Trustees and chair/COO of BarberMcMurry architects; and Heather Overton, alumni campaign co-chair and marketing executive with Denark Construction Company.
Edwards described the five major funding priorities:
- Expanding the Nursing program at the Magnolia Avenue Campus
- Strengthening the Pellissippi State Foundation’s overall endowment
- Equipping and furnishing a new Blount County campus building
- Providing technology for the new Bagwell Center for Media and Art
- Increasing funds for academic and student enrichment
Honorary co-chairs for the Connecting Communities, Changing Lives campaign are Tutt Bradford, retired publisher of The Daily Times, and Ross Bagwell Sr.
Ross Bagwell is an award-winning pioneer in the national media industry and founder of Knoxville-based Bagwell Industries/Cinetel Productions. Cinetel became the largest independent cable network program production company in the U.S. in 1993. Bagwell sold the company to Scripps Howard Broadcasting for use as the headquarters for the cable network Home and Garden Television. HGTV now includes DIY, Fine Living, Jewelry Television, the Food Channel and GAC.
An outdoor luncheon in the courtyard on Pellissippi Campus concluded the event.
Related Information:
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Contact Information:
Julia Wood
Marketing and Communications Director
Pellissippi State Technical Community College
10915 Hardin Valley Road
Knoxville, TN 37933-0990
Phone: (865) 694-6405
Fax: (865) 539-7088
E-mail: jwood@pstcc.edu
Pellissippi State Technical Community College
2000 - 2007©