March 22, 2014
For Immediate Release

By Drew Tucker, communications assistant

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — “What would your life be like if Campbellsville University did not exist?”
This question was poised to alumni and friends at an event held at Stone Hearth Restaurant in Elizabethtown, Ky. on March 20 that kicked off Campbellsville University's “Campaign for the Commonwealth.”

“This campaign is going to be so important in the life of the university,” Dr. Michael V. Carter, CU president, said to the attendees. “This dinner, tonight, represents our attempt to begin to reach out, in a personal way, across the Commonwealth as we continue in our capital campaign.”

“It's a campaign for the next century so that we can have the resources Campbellsville University needs to continue to move forward in very progressive and wonderful ways that's Christ-centered,” he said.

Carter said this campaign is a road map for CU to provide the resources needed for scholarship assistance, facility improvements, and add new and additional programs in a way that's relevant and meaningful.

“We believe that as we look into the future there are additional opportunities where Campbellsville University can serve,” he said.

CU's educational program has also been strengthened with the addition of new programs. “It's going to help our students get into professional and graduate schools like never before,” Carter said.

“This campaign becomes that vehicle for us to be able to provide for these types of opportunities for the next generation,” he said.

Carter said, “CU has the largest body of international students in the Commonwealth of Kentucky; of any private college in the eastern United States.”

“When they arrive on campus, they'll want to know, what is the large building with the cross [the Ransdell Chapel]? Why do you have church on your campus? It gives us a tremendously opportunity to teach. Maybe in a small way, CU is helping to create a sense of world peace,” he said.

Campbellsville University is in the silent phase of the “Our Time, This Place: The Next Century Campaign for Campbellsville University” which will go public in about a year. Pledges for the campaign have reached over $31 million, which go toward new residence halls, salaries, creating new programs, new buildings for programs and improving the campus.

“Thank you for your love and support,” Carter said. “Pray for us. Every gift is important. We're so thankful for the tremendous support coming out of Hardin County. This is such an important area for us. Over 100 CU students come from Hardin County.”

Marcus Rodgers, a sophomore from Campbellsville, Ky., said he wanted to go away for college. He looked at Lindsey Wilson College and the University of Kentucky.

“I thought CU would be more expensive than UK, but after scholarship money, CU was the cheapest for me. It was an easy choice,” he said. “CU was the one I felt at home with.”

He said, two years from now, he'll be student teaching where he'll “be able to impact student lives every single day.”

“The biggest thing that I love about Campbellsville is getting to work for the school and having the ability to walk around campus every day giving campus tours where I convince them [potential students] to come to Campbellsville because I know it's a choice that won't be regretted,” he said.

Rodgers said CU is preparing students to go out into the real world in a way that's Christian-based.
“Thanks, to all of you, for making it possible for me to come to Campbellsville. I could not have come to Campbellsville without donors. Thank you for giving me this opportunity,” he said.

Benji Kelly, second from right, vice president for development, talks with Anna Gosser of Elizabeth- town, with her husband, Dr. Donnie Gosser, a member of CU's Board of Trustees, at right. At far left is Jana Gore of Elizabethtown, also a member of the CU Board of Trustees, and her husband, Dr. Lewis Gore. (Campbellsville University Photo by Drew Tucker)

Carter asked those attending how their lives would be changed if CU didn't exist.

“I hope that as you think about that question, you think, ‘what might I be able to do to help move her forward into a new century?'” he said. “We appreciate each of you and thank you for your love and commitment for CU. It's a very special place - it's a place where lives are genuinely changed.”

He said an adventurous spirit grabbed hold of the leadership of CU when starting this campaign.

“We prayed about it, met with people, traveled, and through that process God put together a series of priorities that we knew we needed to raise money for,” he said.

In addition to the new residence halls, salaries, creating new programs, new buildings for programs, and improving the campus, he also said that raising money for the endowment for the scholarship assistance was vital.

Benji Kelly, CU's vice president for development, said because the alumni Hardin-LaRue County chapter created a $10,000 endowment, it has been turned into $25,000.

“We're excited for what the future holds. Pray for us. Support us. Send us students. We depend upon those students coming,” he said.

A Servant Leadership Award was presented to Fred and Martha Stein and Dave and Deborah Duda for “your dedication and commitment to CU through the Hardin-LaRue chapter,” Kelly said.

Dr. Ted Taylor, director of the Big Maroon Club, spoke about FIRST CLASS - a program designed for freshman students to attend chapel - where Rodgers got up in front of 550 freshmen to share his testimony.

“That's an awesome picture of CU,” he said. “I'm thankful that of all the places I can serve and ministry that I believe with all my heart what we do at CU is as much about missions as it is about anything.”

The next date for the Campaign for the Commonwealth is April 24 at CU's Louisville Education Center.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.