Fall 2003

Volume 7 Number 1
A publication of Macon State College

MSC FOUNDATION First Comprehensive Campaign Remarkably Successful

A drawing of the Jones Building, now under construction on the Macon State College campus. The building will house the academic divisions of health sciences, nursing and natural sciences and math.

By Beth Byers

The Macon State College Foundation kicked off its first comprehensive campaign in early 2003 with a goal of $6 million for student support programs, faculty development, library enhancement and special initiatives.

As of mid-July, more than $3.9 million, or 65 percent, of the goal had been contributed.

“We’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from donors,” said Joe E. Timberlake III, a retired Macon businessman, civic leader and Foundation Board of Trustees member serving as chairman of the campaign. “It says a lot about Macon State College’s impact on this community that people want to invest in its continued success.”

The Foundation board decided to call the campaign “Invest in Success” because of Macon State’s great strides over the past few years. Since 1998, MSC has developed seven baccalaureate programs, increased enrollment by 40 percent and undertaken more than $50 million in new construction projects.

“State funding and tuition revenue cover basic services,” Timberlake said, “but private support is what it takes to move an institution to the next level of excellence. If Central Georgia can help Macon State maintain its momentum, it will help power this region’s economic and cultural prosperity for years to come.”

The “Invest in Success” campaign has attracted the largest single gift ever made to Macon State College: a $1.5 million donation from the Charles H. Jones Family Foundation.

Jones, a Macon developer, community visionary and member of the MSC Foundation’s Board of Trustees, has been a longtime advocate for the College and its development as a baccalaureate institution.

The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents, of which Jones was once a member, recently approved Macon State’s request to name the professional sciences building in his honor, the first named building on campus. (More about Charles H. Jones and the Jones Building will be included in the next issue of MSC Today.)

The “Invest in Success” campaign gives donors the opportunity to support Macon State in four key areas.

Student support funds will be used to establish more scholarships and enhance MSC’s minority achievement and honors programs. Faculty development funds will help create endowed chairs and professorships to ensure Macon State continues to attract top-notch professors. Library enhancement funds will help the College engage emerging library technologies that will enhance scholarly research and expand academic resources. Funds for special initiatives will help Macon State develop the region’s professional workforce potential, purchase technologically advanced equipment for science and nursing programs and support the campuswide Botanical Gardens project.

To learn how to make a gift to the Macon State College “Invest in Success” campaign, call the Office of Development at 471-2732.