Campus NEWS Heacock’s generosity adds $4.5 million to campaign Virginia Heacock couldn’t go to college, so she spent her life making sure others could. Her mother died when Heacock was too young to remember, and her grandmother, who took over her care, died when Heacock was in high school. Hers was to be a life of work, not study. She served 41 years for ExxonMobil, retiring as a business systems projects administrator. On the advice of some friends from church, Heacock began giving to ACU, helping students she never met attain their dreams. And when she died in August, her estate left nearly $4.5 million to endowed scholarships – pushing ACU’s Partnering in the Journey Campaign more than halfway to its $50 million goal. The Partnering in the Journey Campaign is the largest fundraising effort in ACU’s history dedicated solely to student scholarships. “She knew she needed to do something with her money,” said Dan Garrett (’73), ACU vice chancellor and Heacock president of the ACU Foundation. “The thing I think sealed the deal were the beautiful letters she received from students thanking her for their scholarships.” Heacock never visited campus, but her commitment to ACU’s students was solidified in 1995, when she created the Virginia Heacock Scholarship Foundation, which made donations for the next 18 years
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– awarding more than 220 scholarships to more than 165 students, and counting. “ACU is incredibly blessed by the generosity of great people like Virginia Heacock,” said Dr. Phil Schubert (’91), university president. “Virginia partnered in the journeys of hundreds of students while she was alive, and her legacy will be a part of the journeys of thousands more students for decades to come.” For a list of the most recently created scholarship endowments, see page 65. More information about the Partnering in the Journey Campaign – including videos, student spotlights and more – is available at acu.edu/journey. To donate, email don.garrett@acu.edu or give online at acu.edu/giveonline. 䊱
Innovative annual block tuition proves a big hit with students Eighty percent of first-year students in Fall 2013 are taking advantage of the flexibility and financial savings from ACU’s annual block tuition program. At many colleges and universities, block or flat-rate tuition allows students to take 12-18 hours of credits each long semester (fall and spring) for the same price. ACU’s annual block tuition plan is based on 30 hours per year but allows full-time undergraduate students to take up to 36 hours at no additional cost. Nineteen percent of ACU students are maximizing the program’s benefits and are on track to graduate in 3.5 years or less, saving an average of $6,094 each in tuition their first year. “Some students prefer to make their college experience a traditional four-year one,” said chief enrollment officer
Student accomplishments Organ recipient Ryan Flores, junior biology major from Spring, competed in the 19th World Transplant Games in Durban, South Africa, winning bronze medals in golf and discus throw. Flores spoke in Chapel as part of “I Am Second” week Sept. 9-13. Abilene freshman Kyler Faulkner, who suffers from Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), finished in first place in the wheelchair division of the National Sporting Clays Association Championship Tournament Oct. 23-28 in San Antonio. ACU’s Student Alumni Association (SAA) was recognized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for three entries in its 2013 ASAP regional competition honoring collegiate student organizations. The SAA earned
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Kevin Campbell (’00). “This plan provides them every opportunity to graduate on time. But others are realizing the benefits of early entry into a highly competitive job market, and the significant cost savings annual block tuition offers.” The price includes all required student fees (academic enrichment and technology, academic services, healthcare, public safety, and student activity and recreation) but does not include room and board, or course-specific and individual fees. For more: acu.edu/blocktuition 䊱
Education experts again tout ACU; university has one of higher ed’s best-performing endowments High praise for ACU from business and education experts came from all directions this fall. James Stewart, best-selling author and columnist for The New York Times, spotlighted ACU’s success in endowment performance with a story in early November about the university’s five-year annualized average return of 5 percent, compared to 3.1 percent for longtime investment leader Yale University and a national average endowment return of just 1.1 percent. It also quoted ACU chief investment officer Jack Rich (’76) about Abilene Christian’s success strategies over the past two decades. The returns reported for the year ending June 30, 2012, were part of the latest NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. ACU ranked among the best performers of endowments with assets of more than $100 million. Stewart is the Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism at Columbia University’s journalism school, and a
CASE recognition as Outstanding Organization, Outstanding Tried and True Program for its purple Tradition shirts, and Outstanding External Program for its King of Campus Court competition at Homecoming. For more about the King of Campus Court, see online-only Bonus Coverage at acu.edu/acutoday. Twenty-four students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and College of Business Administration and four faculty/staff guides traveled to New York City over Fall Break in November to meet with executives of Johnson & Johnson, CNN and the National Basketball Association. They were hosted on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange by Brandon Baker (’98), vice president of NYSE Technologies. Other alumni who met with the group included Ryan Swearingen (’98), director of marketing at Magnet Media and Elise (Smith ’83) Mitchell, CEO of Dentsu Public Relations Network.