hese are exciting times at Manchester!
This fall we’ve announced a $45 million comprehensive campaign, toward which we’ve already raised nearly $37 million. In October, the Board of Trustees adopted a new strategic plan and committed to a $19 million expansion of our space in Fort Wayne. During Homecoming we dedicated our new Chime Tower, which will quickly become an iconic part of our North Manchester campus.
Our campaign theme – Manchester Bold: The Future is Ours – points us toward a bright future, one grounded in our mission, focused on serving our students, and connected to the communities and world around us. It is a campaign rooted in justifiable optimism about our future and one that we can attain by continuing to be Bold in action and in aspiration.
Being Bold is nothing new at Manchester.
More than 130 years ago, we won what would today be called an economic development competition by raising $10,000 to bring the Roanoke Classical Seminary to North Manchester. That was our first campaign, equivalent to $328,000 today.
In 1948, we launched the first peace studies major in the world, believing, boldly in any era, that there are alternatives to violence in settling our differences.
Fifty years ago, we started a groundbreaking environmental studies major, just one year after the first Earth Day was celebrated.
Fast forward to 2012 when we boldly opened Manchester University Fort Wayne and started our Doctor of Pharmacy Program. It is now home to our Master of Athletic Training, the nation’s first master’s program in pharmacogenomics and soon a cutting-edge master’s in nutrition and nutrigenomics. Our Board of Trustees approved the Fort Wayne renovation and expansion of that space to accommodate those programs as well as our new nursing and physical therapy programs, with space to grow even more in the future.
We know that our undergraduate students choose Manchester for our strong academic programs, but also because of what they can do outside the classroom. Our athletic programs have always been a draw, and our new stadium, the first capital project completed during the campaign, serves our football, soccer, cross country and track and field teams. It’s also home for our new Spartan Pride Marching Band, also funded by an early campaign gift.
At the heart of our vision for the future are the colleagues that teach and support our students. One of our longest serving faculty members says that our people are our greatest strength, and our students and graduates agree.
One of the best parts of being president is getting to sit down with our graduates and hearing about their Manchester experiences. Time after time, they tell me that what they most value today about their time as students were the people that they connected with. They have a favorite class because of the faculty member who taught it. They learned an important life lesson from someone who became a mentor.
Each of these aspects of Manchester – people, programs and places – is reflected in our vision for the future and in this campaign.
Look at how far we’ve come … and think about how far we can go.
Is our vision audacious? Yes. Bold? Certainly. Within our reach? With your encouragement and support, absolutely!