Troy effort raises $167M
Published 11:25 pm Monday, February 13, 2012
Troy University has raised more than $167 million toward completion of its $200 million capital campaign.
The announcement was made Saturday night at the university’s 125th birthday gala. Students from different fields of study and different cultures carried silver balloons in the shape of numbers into the Trojan Center Ballroom and stood side-by-side for the numbers to form the total $167,925,923.
“The campaign is titled ‘Building Beyond Boundaries’ and it’s not about money – it’s about lives changed. It’s about giving these students every benefit and the very best that we can give them,” said Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr.
The birthday gala, hosted by Trojan alum and CNN correspondent Tom Foreman, also recognized Troy donors including members of the Shield Society, the university’s planned giving society, and the Circle of 125, a special group of donors who are supporting the yearlong 125th birthday celebration.
Hawkins and other university supporters at the gala talked about completed projects funded by the capital campaign, including the expansion of the Riddle-Pace Baseball Field, the renovation and expansion of Bibb Graves Hall, and the development of the University’s first doctoral program, the Doctorate of Nursing Practice.
Building Beyond Boundaries is the second capital campaign in the university’s history. The first, Quest for Excellence, was completed in February 2000 and raised almost $21.2 million.
During the gala, university supporter and alumnus Jeff Coleman presented a donation from his family that will help pave the way for the construction of a new academic building at the school’s Dothan campus.
“We’ve been talking about this project in a silent period for a number of years now, and in December I thought of great way to get involved,” Coleman said. “I went back to my family, and we thought this was a great way to honor a great man in my life, my father.”
The new building will be named the James F. Coleman Hall in honor of Coleman’s father. It is expected to be about 40,000 square feet and will cost about $7 million to build. Coleman Hall will provide classrooms and offices for the Sorrell College of Business, along with the offices of Alumni Affairs and Development.
The new building will allow the College of Business to better serve its students in Dothan, said Dr. Skip Ames, associate dean of College of Business.
“This will bring all of the business faculty and classrooms together under one roof, building collegiality among the faculty and giving students better access to their professors,” Dr. Ames said.
The worldwide 125th birthday celebration will be held on Feb. 24, starting at 11:30 a.m. on the Troy Campus inside Sartain Hall.
Troy’s campuses in Dothan, Montgomery and Phenix City, along with other national and international sites, will conduct simultaneous celebrations, as well.
Admission to the celebration events is free and members of the pubic are invited to attend.