A new $250 million campaign and 200,000 student-pledged service hours were just a couple of the big announcements in chapel this morning.
Chapel was a little different today; students were greeted by free T-shirts that said Lipscomb Leads and live instrumental music performed by student band Daves Highway and friends.
The money from this new campaign will go towards academic programs, campus development and student scholarships. The donors have already given $186 million of the $250 million goal of the campaign.
“We’re going to make it,” Lipscomb President Randy Lowry said.
Lipscomb said in a statement that the Lipscomb Leads campaign will focus on three main priorities: “A best in class academic program, a transformative student experience and a model for sustainable impact.”
President Lowry described the goals of the program by emphasizing the program’s goal to enrich student scholarships, academic programs and campus development.
“We want every single classroom to be the opportunity and environment for 21st century learning,” Lowry said. “…Scholarships are important to students who have no other opportunity of getting an education. These scholarships will open up their world and give opportunities that they never imagined.”
Along with student scholarships and academic programs, Lipscomb Leads will also go towards renovating the campus.
“About $50 million of this campaign will go towards the next phase of campaign development,” Lowry said.
The renovations announced include Allen Arena, Elam Hall and the McFarland Science Center. The campaign will take approximately three years to finish.
“I look forward to getting together in three years to celebrate the campaign’s completion,” Lowry said.
Additionally, the Lipscomb graduate school of business will be getting a new name.
“The graduate school of business from this time forward will be known as the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business,” Lowry said.
The graduate school is named after donors Phil and Pam Pfeffer. Phil Pfeffer is a business man in Nashville and also has taught in Lipscomb’s business graduate school, while Pam Pfeffer was a college professor and the first woman in Nashville to be in a bank’s management training program.
A video shown at the beginning of chapel showed how the Pfeffers said they want to invest in Lipscomb.
“The students, who make this campus so vibrant, and the faculty and staff who equip the students with the knowledge and skills they need to lead here on campus and beyond…” the Pfeffers said in the video about the reason they wanted to donate to Lipscomb.
“The Pfeffers are a symbol of the 42,000 donors who are supporting this campaign already,” Lowry said.
Nearing the end of the event, SGA President Sierra Sparks announced that students pledged 200,000 hours of service on behalf of the student body towards the Lipscomb Leads campaign.
“Lipscomb is a community who supports and encourages one another,” Sparks said. “We students want to support individuals within our own community and worldwide, just as Lipscomb has done to us.”
The event concluded with a countdown to kick off the Lipscomb Leads campaign before a “button” was pressed on stage. When the button was hit at the end of the countdown, confetti filled the air, parachutes with balloons fell from the Allen Arena ceiling, Daves Highway and friends performed “High Hopes” and Lu, the Bison mascot, descended from a rope on the ceiling.
Lipscomb campus shot courtesy of Lipscomb University