by Charissa Ricker | Apr 16, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Lipscomb University invited donors of $1,000 or more annually to a night highlighting innovation on Monday. The fourth annual IMAGINE event featured special musical performers Dr. Wintley Phipps and Natalie Grant and guest speakers Mark Cleveland and Walter Isaacson. IMAGINE serves as a celebration of Lipscomb’s achievements and has also been the platform of several big announcements for the university, such as a $23 million donation at last year’s IMAGINE. This year’s focus was Lipscomb Leads, the $250 million fundraising campaign. Student body president Sierra Sparks shared with the guests the 200,000 hours of service students have pledged to contribute to the Lipscomb Leads campaign. After a performance by Phipps, Lipscomb alumnus and CEO of Hytch Mark Cleveland was welcomed to the stage. Lipscomb is a huge supporter of the rideshare app, and Cleveland shared with the donors his vision for the company and the innovative steps it’s taking. “We have a strategy to protect our cities by taking pressure off our infrastructure,” Cleveland said. “We are on a mission to reward people for reducing their carbon footprint every time they share a ride with Hytch.” Cleveland said that he wanted to be a part of the Lipscomb community because he wanted to join a group of problem-solvers. He joked about getting an A on his paper about Hytch, and he urged the audience to find their community of innovators. “On your daily commute the empty seat in your car is both a problem and an opportunity,” Cleveland said. The event’s second musical guest was seven-time Grammy nominee and five-time Dove Award winner for Female Vocalist of the Year...
by Tyler Harvey | Feb 1, 2019 | News Slider
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...
by Erin Franklin | Oct 19, 2018 | News Slider
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is known to frequent Lipscomb’s workout room, but he made an appearance at chapel Tuesday to speak to students and lead the closing prayer. Lipscomb president Randy Lowry introduced Haslam by noting how many Lipscomb students would not be where they are today had Haslam not served as governor. “If you have a HOPE scholarship, you owe that opportunity to…Governor Haslam in his support of that program,” Lowry said. “If you enjoyed free community college, it was because this governor wanted to provide access to higher education. To those of you who did, you then had an opportunity to transfer to a four-year school, which you might not ever otherwise been able to attend.” During The Gathering, Haslam spoke to students about God, relationships and politics. Haslam cited two main things he wanted to tell students to take away from his talk. “No matter what you do, make certain that you’re in a situation where you have people that give you honest feedback…That’s really what helps us,” he said. “Number two is remember those people you’re interacting with…that they’re created in the image of God.” After The Gathering, Lumination spoke to Haslam individually about his thoughts on the upcoming governor’s election and the importance of students going out and voting. “The first thing to do is obviously to go vote,” Haslam said. “It’s incredibly simple and easy, and it matters. Every study shows that young people don’t, which is crazy that people typically don’t start voting until they’re in their 40s. “People tend to get really excited about the national elections, but your state and local elections...
by McKenzie Utley | Aug 29, 2018 | News Slider
Lipscomb University’s Convocation began Tuesday when an array of flags emerged from the tunnels of Allen Arena, marking the continued increase of diversity at the school. But the flags were just a small part of the larger ceremony that served as a kickoff to the 2018-19 school year. Lipscomb typically holds convocation during the second week of the semester. President Dr. L Randolph Lowry III took the stage to address the improvements the school made this summer and to announce improvements to come in the future. Lowry praised his staff for their patience and hard work during the summer, which brought changes to the Bison Cafe and Bennett Campus Center and also included a total remodel of the cafe’s outdoor patio. Lowry spent time talking about Lipscomb’s history, which spans 127 years, and he also encouraged students to work hard and put God first during their studies this school year. But Lowry saved the best announcements for last, as he introduced Grammy Award-winning artist Michael W. Smith to play a few songs on the piano and to lead worship. Lowry also announced plans for a new, 200-space parking garage to be constructed near the Fields Engineering Center on the northwest corner of campus. Students, long-plagued with parking issues, erupted in excitement at the news. The garage isn’t expected to be completed until at least August...
by Erin Turner | May 3, 2015 | News Slider
A record number of graduates, a 1950s pop icon who rewrote the Lipscomb alma mater and Yellow Ribbon scholars who sacrificed so much were among the highlights Saturday when Lipscomb students were celebrated in the commencement ceremonies in Allen Arena. That icon, Pat Boone, introduced his “new” version of Lipscomb’s alma mater. He led that special part of the ceremony during which over 400 undergraduates crossed the stage to receive their diplomas and jubilant friends and families joined in the celebration. Boone, the original author of Lipscomb’s alma mater, recently made a few changes to the lyrics, but the melody remained the same. He described how he and Don Henley created the original song that he “rebooted” to make more modern this year. “I listened to some of the other college alma maters, and they’re impressive, and some are fight songs,
and based on my experience here, and knowing what Lipscomb is about, I felt it needed to have an anthem quality,” Boone said. “It needed to have a spiritual quality, because that’s who we are. “Not many colleges around this great United States can say that.” Backed up by four Lipscomb students, Boone led the audience in the updated alma mater. Like others who were toasted during the commencement exercises, Boone worked extra hard to attend the school where his spirituality was nurtured. Long before he became a Hollywood mainstay and resident of Beverly Hills, Boone and his brother worked through the summers so that they could afford going to Lipscomb Academy. His reasoning, likely echoed by all the graduates who were at saluted during the ceremony, was he wanted an education in a Christian context....
