Asbury University Receives Record $8-Million Gift
Asbury President Dr. Sandra C. Gray made the announcement at the school’s 125th anniversary celebration on June 27 at historic Hughes Auditorium with four former University presidents plus alumni, their families and other friends of the University in attendance.
The gift will be utilized to support multiple areas: $4 million going to the University’s new Collaborative Learning Center (CLC); $3 million directly to funding student scholarships; $1 million to debt reduction.
At an anticipated cost of $25 million, the CLC will be the future home of programs in natural science and math, as well as the Howard Dayton School of Business, and will help drive the potential for new academic programming.
The building can accommodate 130 students majoring in the natural and allied sciences, 70 students majoring in the quantitative sciences and 400 majoring in business.
The plan calls for 10-14 science laboratories, 10-13 classrooms, 20-25 faculty offices and a 300-seat auditorium.
With $3 million funding student scholarships, the gift also addresses one of the greatest needs among Asbury’s student body – a significant number of students are first generation college students and/or come from families who have devoted themselves to serving society.
President Gray said the gift “is evidence, along with the many other important gifts we’ve received recently, that alumni, parents and friends believe in Asbury and the difference it makes in the lives of young people.”
Asbury is ranked No. 1 in the South in the 2014-15 U.S. News & World Report Regional College Rankings and provides financial aid to more than 95% of its students.
Asbury was named one of America’s most affordable Christian colleges in 2015 and just a few years ago opened the state-of-the-art, $12.5-million Miller Center for Communication Arts.