College exceeds $20 million capital campaign goal

Published 11:14 pm Monday, November 12, 2007

The Dalton State College Foundation announced today that funds raised during its Capital Campaign have exceeded the original goal, surpassing the $20 million mark in as many months.

The Campaign, which began in February 2006, was initiated to raise $20 million by the end of fall semester 2007.

“I am proud to announce today that we have raised $20.8 million in our Fulfilling the Vision campaign,” said DSC Foundation Chairman Bob Buchanan. “We did this with the support of philanthropic visionaries in our community who are committed to advancing not only Dalton State College but the entire northwest Georgia region. While we are proud of this level of support, we are not going to slow down. We still want to share our vision with many more individuals and companies who share our commitment to fulfilling the vision of the future Dalton State.”

“Fulfilling the Vision: The Dalton State College Campaign for Educational, Economic, and Cultural Advancement in Northwest Georgia,” is the first-ever major fundraising campaign in the College’s 40-year history.

Campaign Chair Sis Brown said the campaign was a huge boost for the College and its home community.

“My philosophy has always been that if the community is good to you, you should give back to the community. And Dalton State College is good for all of us and for our businesses,” Brown said “We’re really asking people to invest in the future of their hometown and in the future of their businesses.”

The four strategic aims of the campaign are growing the campus, strengthening academic programs, enhancing student opportunities, and bringing the campus and the community together. David Elrod, Director for Institutional Advancement for Dalton State, stressed that many of the Campaign’s objectives can only be funded with privately raised gifts. Scholarships, land acquisition, professorships, and other initiatives cannot be funded with state dollars.

“We are thrilled that the DSC Foundation has been so successful with this fundraising campaign. We see this as a reflection of the support the northwest Georgia region has for education in general and Dalton State in particular,” Elrod said.

Expanding the campus in terms of acreage is one major goal, Elrod said, and the DSC Foundation has already made several steps in that direction, he says, including the purchase in January of 77 acres on the north end of campus, a gift of 22 acres on the south end of campus, and the acquisition of the Wood Valley Apartments in 2005.

“To continue meeting the higher education needs of the region we serve, we must grow this campus in a way that positions us to be responsive to area’s workforce demands in the years ahead,” said Elrod. “The population growth projections for our area of the state are huge. We have to be ready for the students who are coming to Dalton State.”

Foundation Chair Bob Buchanan said that student scholarships and new support for faculty are ways the College can strengthen its academic programs.

“We expect to more than double our existing scholarship program by the time this campaign is concluded,” Buchanan said.

“We will also be supporting Study Abroad Scholarships so that our students can benefit from the experience of learning abroad.”

Steps toward bringing the campus and community together will be made tangible early next year when a 75-foot Bell Tower is built on campus, surrounded by traditional academic quadrangle, said Campaign Chair Sis Brown.

“We’re excited about getting underway with this project. It will totally change the campus, it will help us recruit students to Dalton State, and it will be a resource the entire community can enjoy.”

Opening its doors in 1967 to its first 524 students, Dalton State today is home to more than 4,530 students from 26 counties in Georgia, four different states and 42 foreign countries. The DSC Foundation’s assets have grown from $3,987 in 1967 to more than $25 million today.