CONWAY -- Hendrix College has completed the most successful fund-raising campaign in its history. The Hendrix Board of Trustees approved a resolution Friday formally ending the five-year campaign that has raised more than $47.3 million to fund construction and renovation projects and increase the College's endowment.
The campaign more than met its original projection: $36 million. With the aid of prudent financial management and a strong stock market, the College also exceeded its goal of increasing its endowment to $100 million by the year 2000. The Hendrix endowment today stands near $140 million. Interest from the endowment provides operating money for the institution, helping to keep tuition as low as possible. Also, interest on endowed scholarship funds provides financial aid to Hendrix students.
"We are so grateful to the more than 6,000 individuals, businesses, corporations, foundations and United Methodist churches that have supported us through this campaign," said Dr. Ann H. Die, president of Hendrix. "This generosity will allow Hendrix to strengthen its reputation as a world-class college of the liberal arts and one of the nation's best values in higher education. Because of these gifts, we are able to upgrade our physical facilities without passing those costs on to students and their families."
Raising money for new science buildings has been a focal point for the campaign.
The lead gift to the campaign is a $10.8 million donation from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to fund construction of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Life Sciences, which will house the departments of biology and psychology. The Reynolds Center is under construction and scheduled to open in 2001.
A physical sciences center, providing space for the departments of chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science, is named in recognition of a substantial gift from Charles D. Morgan, chair of the Hendrix Board of Trustees, that was matched by his company, Acxiom Corporation.
The new Charles D. Morgan Center for the Physical Sciences will include Acxiom Hall, a new building which opened for the fall 1999 term, and John Hugh Reynolds Hall, built in 1931, and currently undergoing complete renovation and restoration. The two structures will be joined by an atrium to form the Morgan Center.
When the science construction is complete in 2001, every science laboratory, classroom, and faculty office on the Hendrix campus will be in new or renovated space. The transformation will have taken place in less than two years and, because of the campaign's success, the new buildings will open debt-free.
The natural sciences are an important part of the curriculum at Hendrix, a national liberal arts college of about 1,100 students founded in 1876 and related to the United Methodist Church since 1884. More than 30 percent of Hendrix students major in the natural sciences and approximately 10 percent of Hendrix graduates enter the medical profession.
Hendrix alumni who are physicians were among the key supporters of the campaign efforts through the Alumni Physicians Council, chaired by Dr. George K. Mitchell of North Little Rock, retired CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Dr. Mitchell, who is the former chair of the Hendrix Board of Trustees, also served as chair of the overall campaign, which involved volunteers from across the nation.
"The quality of undergraduate education at Hendrix affects the quality of medical care across the state because one in eight of licensed physicians currently practicing in Arkansas earned an undergraduate degree at Hendrix," Dr. Mitchell said. "One reason so many Arkansas physicians supported our campaign is because of their long-term commitment to providing quality health care to Arkansans."
"I thank my fellow physicians for their contributions to the effort, which will provide state-of-the-art science facilities that will allow Hendrix to continue its tradition of excellence in the sciences into the 21st Century," Dr. Mitchell said.
In addition to the new science buildings, the campaign has also provided
funding for:
- six new student residence houses.
- a new NCAA-regulation-sized soccer field.
- new intramural fields.
- renovation of Greene Chapel
- a new pipe organ
- construction of a building to house the Murphy Programs in Language
and Literature.
- renovations to the Campus Center.
For more information about fund-raising at Hendrix College, contact the Office of Development and College Relations at (501) 450-1223.
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Contact: Helen Plotkin, Director of College Relations
Office (501) 450-1225 * FAX 450-3881 * [email protected]
Hendrix news releases on-line at http://www.hendrix.edu/news/
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