By Ashley Sidebottom, staff writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Dr. E. Bruce Heilman urged audience members at the 28th annual President’s Club dinner recently in the Winters Dining Hall to “continue the upward momentum” of Campbellsville University.
Heilman referred to members of the President’s Club as “the flywheels of progress for educating the students who fill the campus week-to-week,” and said his dilemma “was to select a subject which best identified with this President’s Club gathering, and a subject in keeping with the momentum which all of you have fostered by way of your personal involvement and your financial support.”
Heilman, chancellor of the University of Richmond, Dr. Michael V. Carter, president of the university, and Benji Kelly, vice president for development, thanked the donors for their giving total of nearly $5.6 million during the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
Carter said there were 550 members in the President’s Club this year, 53 of those being new members. To be eligible for the President’s Club, one must give $1,000 or more in a fiscal year.
Carter presented the new members of the President’s Club who were present with a plaque during the dinner.
Those new members include: B.J. and Vicki Senior of LaGrange, Ky.; David Gaddie of Campbellsville; Freeman Melancon Bryant Advertising in Knoxville, Tenn.; Hermano and Elisamar Queiroz of Campbellsville; Jason and Starr Garrett of Campbellsville; Joe Hurtgen of Campbellsville; Liberty Baptist Church in Campbellsville; Norma R. Wheat of Jamestown, Ky.; Perry and Barbara Huccaby of Hodgenville, Ky.; Scott and Elizabeth Wigginton of Campbellsville; and William and Nevelyn Allen of Chase City, Va.
Pam Bennett, centennial campaign officer for major gifts, helped hand out the gifts.
Gifts were also presented to members of the Russell Creek Society, those who donate $2,500-$4,999, the Hoskins Society, those who donate $5,000-$9,999, the Campbell Society, those who donate $10,000 or more, and the Centennial Circle, whose members have donated a cumulative total of $100,000 or more.
Heilman said his speech, “A Dream Realized is a Vision Fulfilled,” “would be the sharing of some aspects of a responsibility assigned to a Committee on Vision composed of some 30 members representing trustees, faculty and staff.
“The charge of this group best highlights the great progress of the recent past as it fosters the continuation of that progress into the future,” he said.
“The committee will ‘dream the dream’ and set the stage for a major financial effort to fund what surely will be a bold challenge to continue the upward momentum which has brought (Campbellsville University) so far in these recent years of Dr. Carter’s presidency,” Heilman said.
Heilman attributed the many improvements on campus and its “elevated quality and service…over recent years” to those present at the dinner.
He said “timing” and the “building upon the great success of the past” were key to the progress and advancement of Campbellsville University over the past several years.
“President Carter brought a new dream, and with confidence, converted that dream into a vision, and with that vision he mustered a revitalized board to back him up on a plan to put that vision into action.”
“Built upon the foundations laid by those who have planted the stepping stones in the past, his vision has become our vision because ‘success breeds success,’” Heilman said.
“I commend President Carter, along with all of you who have been enlisted as participants to make possible the progress as we bask in the success that is the result. Most of you present tonight have played a key role in bringing to fruition the vision of President Carter.”
Vision is part faith, part confidence, part expectation, and part determination for we cannot visualize what we cannot believe, he said.
“Without vision on the part of those who carry the authority and hold in trust the institution, it too will perish, or at most, it will wallow in mediocrity,” Heilman said.
For more information about contributing to Campbellsville University, or how to become a member of the President’s Club, contact Kelly at (270) 789-5211 or (800) 264-6014.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,405 students who represent 98 Kentucky counties, 25 states and 29 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South and eighth in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” CU has been ranked 15 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America’s Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his ninth year as president.