Pellissippi State launches public appeal in largest-ever fundraising campaign
Pellissippi State Technical Community College reaches a milestone on April 17 when it goes public with the largest major fundraising initiative in the college’s 33-year history.The campaign, spearheaded by the Pellissippi State Foundation, kicks off officially at 11 a.m. in the Performing Arts Center on the Pellissippi Campus on Hardin Valley Road. Allen Edwards, Pellissippi State president, will announce the goal and campaign progress during a brief program that will also include remarks by key volunteer campaign 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 four campuses in Knox and Blount counties attracted a record 8,188 students last fall, and spring semester enrollment increased by more than 7 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 but that the rapidly growing enrollment is also a major factor in the need for additional financial support.
“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 advisor with the Fisher Group at Smith Barney; and Joseph Johnson, owner of A&W Office Supply.
The Blount County campaign co-chairs are Maryville community leader Peggy McCord and Steve West of West Chevrolet.
Speakers at the kickoff will include Cathy Ackermann; David Wooley, 2007-2008 chair of the Pellissippi State Foundation Board of Trustees and chairman/COO of BarberMcMurry architects; and Heather Overton, alumni campaign co-chair and marketing executive with Denark Construction Company.
President Edwards will announce five major funding priorities of the campaign:
- Expanding the Nursing program at the Magnolia Avenue Campus
- Strengthening the college’s overall endowment
- Equipping and furnishing the new Blount County Campus building
- Providing technology for the new Bagwell Center for Media and Art
- Increasing funds for academic and student enrichment
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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
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