ST. GEORGE – Representatives from Zions Bank presented Dixie State College of Utah with a check for $35,000 to help kick off the final major push of the College’s “Centennial Celebration: Bridging a New Century of Service” fundraising campaign. Zions Bank Southern Regional President Doug Balch and Area President David Turner presented the check to DSC President Dr. Stephen D. Nadauld during a brief ceremony held Tuesday afternoon at the Eccles Fine Arts Center.
“Zions is always viewed as a community bank and this is a step in saying we want to continue to be a community bank and be a part of everything that takes place that we can possibly be a part of,” says Balch, a Dixie College alum.
“Dixie College is such an important part of the community,” added Turner, who is also a Dixie College alum. “We’re grateful to be a part of this and grateful to be associated with great people.”
The funds donated by Zions Bank will go to fund a new DSC President’s Health Loop fitness circuit training facility, which will be located just south and east of the Eccles Fine Arts Center. When competed, the “D-Circuit” Loop, shaped as Dixie’s iconic block “D” and designed by Mesa Consulting Group of St. George, will feature eight workout stations. Each station will feature shade and lighting structures so DSC students, faculty and staff, and the community can utilize the facility day and night.
“This is a place where students can to do for their body what they’re here to do for their mind,” President Nadauld said. “We want to send the message to our students that we value fitness, that we want them to be physically fit as well as mentally fit.”
Dixie State’s Centennial Campaign began in 2000, with the goal of raising $100 million by the end of 2011 – $1 million for each year of Dixie’s existence. Due to the generous support of Dixie’s dedicated alumni, friends, benefactors and the state of Utah, that goal was accomplished in 2010.
Under the direction of campaign co-chairs and Dixie alumni, Ralph and Cheri Atkin, Dixie State now begins a final push to raise another $7 million in committed endowment dollars before the end of the year, including at least $4 million to fund a number of campus capital projects. To coincide with the construction of the new Jeffery R. Holland Centennial Commons Building, which will be completed in May of 2012, the campaign will raise money through naming opportunities to improve and enhance the heart of Dixie’s campus with the construction of two new plazas – the Encampment Plaza and Centennial Plaza.
“As building come down and buildings go up people get more and more excited about being a part of [the campaign],” said Ralph Atkin, who graduated from Dixie College in 1965. “Today is such an important part with Zions Bank stepping forward. We’ve had other private donors already step forward and fund other parts of this project. The big push is between now and December and we’re hoping to get it done by then, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it goes a little bit longer than that and we’re willing to go longer.”
Following the completion of the Holland Centennial Commons Building, the Edith Whitehead Student Services Building will be razed, making room for the new Encampment Plaza. That plaza will feature a number of water features, outdoor class and student study areas, and covered memory gardens, complete with benches and electrical outlets to create a tranquil place for students to study, along with trees and other landscaping. Meanwhile, the Centennial Plaza will also feature memory gardens and student study areas, along with a clock tower that will be erected between the Holland Building and Gardner Student Center.
“All of these projects is going to transform the college from last century of extraordinary service to the next century of really dynamic and wonderful university-type service to the community,” President Nadauld said. “Not only will we have the academic renovation with the new degrees, but we’ll have the physical renovation that will take us into the next century.”
In addition to the creation of the Encampment and Centennial Plazas, DSC hopes to raise $3 million to fund three endowed academic chair positions in DSC’s four-year accounting, education and communication programs. The creation and funding of these three new positions will enhance Dixie State College’s chances to eventually gain university status.
“For the alumni and the community, we hope they will step forward and say ‘what can I do to help,’” Atkin added. “It’s going to be interesting to see [the plazas] develop, but we really need the support of the alumni, the community and everyone stepping forward at this time to assist us. It can’t be done by four or five people, it’s going to take a few thousand people to get this done.”
Dixie State College publicly announced the largest fundraising campaign in the College’s 100-year history in the fall 2007 during the DSC-hosted Centennial Grand Gala Concert in the Burns Arena. The quiet phase of the “Bridging a New Century of Service” campaign began in July of 2000, during which DSC raised close to $78 million over those first eight years.
Over that time span, a number of campaign successes were realized, including the George and Dolores Dore’ Eccles Fine Arts Center, the Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic, the Stephen and Marcia Wade Alumni House, the Kathryn Lloyd Richards Sculpture Garden, the Russell C. Taylor Health Science Center, and the Center for Media Innovation in DSC’s communication department. In addition, many new endowed scholarships were established during those opening years of the campaign.
For more information on DSC’s Centennial Campaign Celebration, contact DSC Vice President of Institutional Advancement Christina Schultz at 435-652-7542, or visit DSC’s official Centennial website at centennial.dixie.edu.