For Immediate Release
4/15/98

Contact: Todd A. Wilson, 719-389-6603

Colorado College to Announce $83 Million Campaign

COLORADO SPRINGS -- This weekend Colorado College will kick off a campaign to raise $83 million for increased financial aid, two new teaching facilities, and other support of educational enterprises at the nationally known liberal arts college.

Of the total goal, 44 percent will be funds for endowment, 33 percent for capital projects including the new buildings and renovations of others, and 23 percent for annual funds -- money used during the year it's received for scholarships or other support of the college's budget.

Financial aid tops the list of campaign goals at $20 million.

"We welcome talented and ambitious young people of all backgrounds," said Kathryn Mohrman, Colorado College president. "Financial aid makes it possible for them to take advantage of the special opportunities here."

Nearly 60 percent of all CC students receive some sort of financial aid, and in 1997, the college spent $11 million on aid -- up from $4 million 10 years before.

A new building for the arts is planned, with $18 million from the campaign slated for its construction and maintenance. The facility, which will combine new classroom and performance spaces, is part of a program called the Cornerstone Arts Initiative, which Mohrman describes as "an expanded interdisciplinary arts program, housed in a performing and learning complex...a national model for the teaching of the arts."

The arts building is planned for the southeast corner of Cascade Avenue and Cache La Poudre, completing a "cornerstone" of three existing buildings that also house most of the arts spaces for the college: Packard Hall, the Worner Student Center, and Armstrong Hall. Packard and Armstrong also are each slated for $2 million in renovations.

The other major capital project, a new science building, will complement existing facilities dedicated to the sciences. Planned for the central part of campus north of Palmer Hall, the $10 million structure will house the departments of psychology and geology as well as the environmental science program.

A $10.5 million total will be dedicated to academic enhancement -- strengthening Tutt Library, funding faculty and student research, and providing additional resources to the Crown-Tapper Teaching and Learning Center. Established in 1996, the center serves as a forum for faculty to share ideas on teaching, using new technology, and professional development. Faculty support and development will be the goal of $7 million to create new endowed professorships, ensure competitive salaries to retain current and recruit new faculty, increase opportunities for independent study and collaborative learning, and maintain CC's small student-faculty ratio -- currently 11:1.

Intercultural opportunities will be the focus of $3.5 million in campaign funds. The additional resources will allow more students to have an international or domestic intercultural experience during their years at CC, adding to their understanding of the world in which they will build lives and careers.

Other aspects of the campaign include $4.3 million for technology, $3.7 million for athletic endeavors, $1 million for endowment of the college's Center for Community Service, and $1 million for renovating Palmer Hall.

"The world outside of Colorado College continues to change and presents new challenges to our graduates," campaign co-chairs Michael Grace and Robert Manning wrote in a recent letter to friends of the college announcing the campaign. "We must find new resources to prepare our students to meet these challenges."

Manning, of Denver, is a 1969 graduate and vice chair of the college's board of trustees. Grace, a music professor and 1963 graduate, also served as interim president of CC before Mohrman's appointment in 1993.

While the Campaign for Colorado College: A Course of Distinction will be announced this weekend and begin its "public" phase, about $39 million or 47 percent of the total goal has already been raised. Campaign officials hope to meet the $83 million goal -- which will make it the largest fund-raising campaign in CC history -- during the year 2001.

"We are fortunate to begin our campaign from a position of strength," said Don Wilson, vice president for alumni, development and college relations. "There is still much work to reach our goals and to affirm our commitment to the historic strengths in our liberal arts curriculum."

The campaign kickoff will be celebrated this weekend with luncheon ceremonies for faculty and staff Friday and a gala dinner Saturday for Colorado alumni and supporters. Pre-kickoff events were held in mid-March for Colorado College supporters in Chicago and New York. Later in April, kickoff dinners will take place in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a Denver event will take place in June.

The first year of the campaign also will coincide with the 125th anniversary of the college's founding in 1874. The anniversary will be celebrated during the 1998-99 academic year with special events including a February 1999 symposium on cultures in the 21st Century.

Colorado College is a private, national liberal arts college consistently ranked among the best in the nation. Located in Colorado Springs, it enrolls just over 1,900 students and is well known for its innovative one-course-at-a-time Block Plan.

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College Relations Office * 14 E. Cache La Poudre St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903 * (719) 389-6603