Higher Ground: The Campaign for Abilene Christian University

HIGHER GROUND

The Campaign for Abilene Christian University

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n September of 1906, Abilene Christian’s first president, A.B. Barret, presided over the first opening ceremony for then-Childers Classical Institute, with 25 students and a crowd of about 250 in attendance. I believe Barret, who was certainly a man with great vision, would have had difficulty imagining the national university ACU is today. And two decades later, when other visionaries looked to a wide pasture of rolling ground east of Abilene as a new home for ACC, they also couldn’t have imagined what we see today – or our digital campus, which serves thousands of online students.

The writer of Hebrews describes the “great cloud of witnesses” as motivation for clarity, purity and perseverance, pointing us to “Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-3). What a cloud of witnesses surrounds us at Abilene Christian! And what a motivation to fix our eyes on Jesus! As the world around us continues to become more complex, those who have gone before us help us stay laser-focused on our mission to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.

We are on the cusp of developments in the life of this university that will take us into higher spheres of excellence, growth and influence. We are entering a period where we can more clearly than ever call our students into lives of discipleship and service in Christ. I am excited about the opportunities ahead, and so humbled by God’s faithfulness. God has provided far beyond what we could have expected – and often that provision has been through the generosity of givers like you.

And though it is wise to reflect on our past, it is time to look forward to the greater heights ahead. As you read through this document that outlines so many of our hopes and dreams, I hope you’ll see yourself in it – see how you can come alongside our students, faculty and staff in areas that are meaningful to you. We will fulfill this mission with your partnership and prayers.

I invite you to join the campaign for Abilene Christian University and help us reach Higher Ground.

Phil Schubert, Ed.D. President

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Abilene Christian University is at a unique moment in its history.

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In the late 1920s, our early leaders sought a new campus on which to build a better future. They chose a hill above the city, where Abilene Christian could grow and mature. With God’s leading, they hoped to bridge the gap between aspiration and reality. Surely, they could not have imagined what would grow from their vision.

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Biochemistry major Benjamin Ash (left) and chemistry major Emma Bonamie work on a process to perform chemical analysis of molten salt for the NEXT Lab.

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ever has the spotlight on ACU shined so brightly from so many corners of campus.

After repeating as the highest-ranked university in Texas for student success, Abilene Christian achieved another distinction determined by U.S. News & World Report: becoming a national university. This classification – thanks to our expanding master’s and doctoral program offerings, both online and on campus, coupled with our world-changing research – places us alongside the top universities in the nation.

Our continuing commitment to developing next-level research has ACU on track to achieve a higher classification as a research institution by the end of the decade. We will join a small number of faith-based universities doing the kind of high-level research that will appeal to new generations of young scholars and engage them in finding innovative solutions to the world’s most significant challenges.

To add to the university’s continued academic success, our move to NCAA Division I athletics continues to pay dividends. Millions watched the men’s basketball team’s return to the NCAA Tournament in March 2021 and witnessed the spirit of the Wildcats as they stood tall – and triumphed – against long odds.

Our students, faculty and alumni perform at a world-class level, and we are thrilled others are recognizing Abilene Christian’s impact.

We have everyone’s attention. Now is the time to further leverage our increased visibility to bolster our reputation in service of our deep-rooted mission to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.

Well into our second century, we are more diverse, creative, innovative, global-minded and forward-looking than ever before. Grounded in our Christian heritage, we remain firm in our

In 2018, the women’s soccer team was the first Wildcat sports program to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Christ-centered mission as we continue to answer God’s higher call for us. And we have arrived at this moment, thanks to God’s providence and the hard work, vision and investment of those who came before us.

But the work is not complete.

Now is the time The early pioneers of Abilene Christian looked east of their small campus on North First Street and dreamed bigger. Through God’s provision, a dream became a reality, with a campus set on a hill.

As we embark on our next steps, we are uniquely positioned to grow to new heights and to create new opportunities to fuel the fire within our students.

This is the time to share our story with the world, to share our Christian mission, our commitment to academic excellence, and our investment in transformational communities and experiences.

We must move upward and onward, further up and further in … answering God’s call for our university.

We are called toward higher ground.

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Higher Ground, our comprehensive, $250 million campaign, will capitalize on the momentum we have built and secure our future going forward. In short, we must all continue to invest in our people, programs and facilities to ensure we can successfully compete on a larger national and international stage.

Through this campaign, ACU will: Strengthen and Elevate ACU’s Academic Profile – $132 million • Recruit, retain and reward exemplary faculty • Develop a next-level research engine and academic infrastructure • Remove financial barriers for current and future Wildcats • Invest in state-of-the art academic facilities

Enhance and Increase Transformational Experiences – $118 million • Reimagine residential living communities and student-centric spaces • Expand opportunities for life-changing and spiritually formative student experiences • Embody a culture of diversity and inclusion • Advance Division I, Christ-centered athletics

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PILLAR ONE:

Strengthen and Elevate ACU’s Academic Profile

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Develop academic brand-anchor programs and invest in the long-term success of world-class faculty, facilities, research and scholarships

Goal: $132 million Thanks to a bold vision that included key investments in high-demand fields and an increase in the number of master’s and doctoral programs, ACU was reclassified in 2021 from a regional university to a national university. In addition, Abilene Christian has achieved yet another important distinction: changing its Carnegie Higher Education Classification System ranking from Master’s-Large University to a Research 3 (R3) Doctoral/Professional University. We aren’t stopping here.

Our sights are set on earning the Research 2 (R2) Doctoral University-High Research Activity rating within this decade.

Simply put, ACU is rapidly growing in its recognition as one of the leading Christian universities in the nation. A higher profile in the academic world will give us a greater platform to recruit exemplary faculty and students, but it also comes with greater competition. Work remains if we want to stand out in this new echelon of universities.

Although ACU is thriving in benchmarks that make us a national university, we lag behind competitors in key areas, including investment in research and faculty. If we want to stand out, we must invest in academics at a national-university level.

The focus of many of these investments will be toward what we call our brand-anchor programs. These high-demand, high-impact academic programs – engineering and physics, health care and business – provide enormous opportunities for growth in areas in which ACU can be a leader on a national scale.

But investing there does not mean ACU will neglect its traditional programs and spiritual heritage. Our history and our Christian mission are what will make us unique among our increasingly elite peers in the academic sphere. We don’t just want to compete at the highest levels, we want to remain distinctively different in our faith-based service to the world.

The late Dr. Don H. Morris, our seventh president, once referred to ACU as “no ordinary college,” and we aim to live up to that in all facets of our education. Our Christian mission and faith-based heritage are extraordinary. It is time for our academic offerings to reach even higher.

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Dr. Richard Beck, professor and chair of psychology, has been recognized as ACU Teacher of the Year.

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Recruit, retain and reward exemplary faculty Faculty members are at the heart of the student experience at ACU. Each Wildcat has a story about a faculty member who changed their life academically, professionally or spiritually.

Our academic programs and state-of-the-art facilities can only be at their best when the right faculty members are in place to nurture and guide our students.

With that in mind, recruiting and retaining top faculty is a priority in these areas: • Current faculty who are highly productive members of the ACU community, whose spirit and visibility are the “face” of ACU • Faculty for academic anchor programs (health sciences, engineering and physics, business and entrepreneurship) • Faculty for new and emerging programs (advanced medical training, nuclear engineering, allied health programs), in Abilene and at ACU Online • Diverse faculty who better reflect the growing diversity of ACU’s student body However, we know our faculty pay trails other highly ranked national universities. As we join their ranks, that leaves us vulnerable to losing our best to more lucrative offers and will make it difficult to recruit for new positions.

One strategy for addressing these priorities is to invest further in endowments that support faculty. Endowed chairs and professorships are a powerful tool to make ACU the destination of choice for top Christian faculty. These positions provide academic recognition and prestige, while also producing critical funding for stipends, research and professional development, year after year.

Establishing an endowed Distinguished Faculty Fund managed by the provost will provide flexibility – across all disciplines – to recruit premier faculty and to retain high-demand professors.

It will also allow the university to move quickly as strategic hiring opportunities arise, manage hard-to-fill positions and recruit diverse talent that reflect our students and our world.

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Develop a next-level research engine and operating support Strong, impactful research is transformational for ACU’s academics. It attracts top faculty candidates and high-achieving students, increases the university’s visibility and improves opportunities for additional grant funding that will drive further research.

But, more than anything, ACU does research for the sake of the world. In disciplines across the academic spectrum, our students and faculty are finding solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing humankind, enhanced by our Christ-centered mission.

In addition to becoming a national university, ACU is on track to move up in classification again later this decade to a Research 2 (R2) Doctoral University-High Research Activity.

The importance of these classifications cannot be overstated. Becoming an R3 university put us on par with others such as Gonzaga, Belmont, Valparaiso and Pepperdine. Rising to R2 would be a game-changer.

Of the 134 current R2 universities, less than a third are private institutions, including TCU and SMU.

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ACU would be the first among its sister schools in the Churches of Christ heritage to achieve this designation.

Only one critical benchmark truly stands in the way of achieving this distinction: research spending.

R2 universities must generate $5 million annually in externally funded research expenditures.

In 2016, ACU had only $500,000 in research funding, but by 2020, that amount was up to $2.6 million.

And in 2021, we have exceeded $4 million. But we must continue to build on the recent growth in research at ACU by establishing a research endowment that would create a strong foundation that will leverage our current external funding well beyond the $5 million threshold. This will accelerate our critical research engine and increase the pool of research dollars available across campus.

It’s also important to note that research doesn’t happen in a vacuum – it requires tools such as equipment, library collections and other operational resources.

Endowments for the ongoing support of departments in their research endeavors will broaden the number of faculty and students who are able to conduct research across a variety of disciplines.

NEXT Lab growth ACU’s Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Lab is one of our most exciting and innovative programs. Students, faculty and staff from several academic departments are together advancing the technology of molten salt reactors to provide solutions to the world’s need for safer and less expensive energy; pure and abundant water; and medical isotopes used to diagnose and treat cancer.

The NEXT Lab also has launched a consortium, in collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin, to build a university-based molten salt research and test reactor.

“The ACU-led construction of a research reactor will establish the NEXT Lab as the world leader in molten salt reactor research,” said Dr. Rusty Towell (’90), professor of engineering and physics at ACU and director of the lab. “This gives our students an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to world-changing technology.”

ACU is leading the way in educating the next generation of leaders in nuclear science and engineering – and you’re helping make that a reality.

Research engineer Jessica (Price ’20) Yerger and engineering major Alice Ineza (’21) take a sample of molten salt at the NEXT Lab. 13

An architectural rendering of ACU’s proposed Science and Engineering Research Center.

Invest in state-of-the-art academic facilities Our facilities are more than buildings. They encourage collaboration, facilitate learning, enable growth and provide the environment for creative investigation and problem-solving. Our students enter and then emerge changed, with new knowledge, skills and maturity.

As we continue to invest in our brand anchors and other high-profile departments, our facilities need to keep up with these innovative programs.

Science and Engineering Research Center Perhaps nowhere is innovation advancing more quickly than at ACU’s Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing Lab (NEXT). Since its founding in 2016, the NEXT Lab’s research into molten salt reactors and nuclear energy has caught the attention of private companies, major universities and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Though the science can be complicated, the potential benefits are clear: cutting-edge research that could address worldwide needs for safe and sustainable energy, clean water and medical isotopes to treat cancer.

To keep up with this groundbreaking work and other projects across the sciences and engineering, the university is building a 28,000-square-foot Science and Engineering Research Center. Among other exciting research, the facility will house the next generation of the NEXT Lab’s molten salt test system – a larger version that allows for testing of full-size components, with the hope of one day having a small research reactor on campus.

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State-of-the-art facilities such as the Mankin Control Room and the adjacent Orr TV Studio help students gain valuable experience providing ESPN with broadcast-worthy coverage of the Wildcats.

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This facility will allow students, especially undergraduates, to contribute to world-class research and groundbreaking technology in many fields and in ways not seen at most other universities. It also will bring scientists from other universities and organizations to Abilene to perform research in this unique space.

Mabee Business Building Preparing the next generation of students in the College of Business Administration for the complex needs and technological advancements in the workforce is at the forefront of the renovations underway on the 35-year-old Mabee Business Building. Updates to the classroom wing are reimagining learning spaces for our students. A larger and more advanced finance lab will provide students with industry tools to practice real-life trading with faculty mentors by their sides, and an upgraded digital experience lab will add more room for this growing technology program.

Health Interprofessional Education Center Today’s healthcare environment has become more complex than ever before.

Shifts in care from a more siloed approach to a cross-functional team model mean that ACU graduates need practical experience before graduation to prepare them for these new realities.

That is why plans for an Interprofessional Education Center are so critical to establish ACU as a leader in interprofessional education and produce well-rounded graduates ready to excel in their fields.

Renovations to a new property south of the main campus will provide a space where students in social work, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy, athletic training, dietetics and teacher education will work together in simulated medical, home health and school environments to develop their clinical skills and judgment in a safe, controlled and realistic learning environment.

Cullen Auditorium Opened in 1978, the Roy and Lillie Cullen Auditorium has had a long-standing history of showcasing ACU’s most talented music and theatre students. Cullen is now being revitalized to become a premiere concert and event venue located at the heart of campus. Upgrading the facility’s seating, lighting, sound system, backstage and storage areas will make it an ideal place for ACU’s music and theatre performances, and it will also attract outside talent to use this important and dynamic space.

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Architectural renderings of a renovated Cullen Auditorium, which first opened in 1979.

Mabee Business Building is home of the College of Business Administration and School of Information Technology and Computing.

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A leader in student success For the third year in a row, Abilene Christian was the highest-ranking Texas university in the nation in a U.S. News & World Report benchmark focused on programs that lead to student success. ACU achieved top 10 status in three of eight areas of emphasis: • 7th: First-year Experience • 9th: Learning Communities • 9th: Service Learning No other Texas university was named in the top 10 of any category in the “Academic Programs to Look For” section. In addition to its top 10 rankings, ACU also was 43rd in Undergraduate Research, making it the only Texas institution to be nationally ranked in four of the eight categories.

Most popular undergraduate majors for ACU students in Fall 2021 1. Nursing 2. Biology 3. Engineering 4. Psychology 5. Business management

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Remove financial barriers for current and future Wildcats An ACU education does more than equip our students for careers – it prepares them to be Christ-like servant leaders who put others first.

Because ACU graduates are so vital to our world, our university needs to attract students who want the highest-quality academic experience while studying in a Christ-centered environment. Competitive financial aid packages will help the university recruit and retain the brightest leaders of today and tomorrow and dramatically lower the economic barriers middle- and lower-income families face when sending a student to college.

These goals can be accomplished through a combination of strategies, including endowed scholarships, current scholarships and funds to help students with immediate physical needs.

Endowed scholarships continue to be the workhorses of ACU’s financial aid program, growing over time and producing awards year after year. Since the Partnering in the Journey Campaign was launched in 2011, 238 new endowed scholarships have been established – but that’s just the beginning.

Scholarships for diverse students are gaining in importance as our students come from a broader representation of ethnicities, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds than ever before.

For example, the Bonner-Curl Endowed Scholarship was established to provide research and internship opportunities to students working each year with the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action.

The Hope for the Future Scholarship Fund provides annual scholarships to students across majors. This fund is a way for donors to pool their annual gifts of all sizes to directly provide for the greatest financial needs of ACU’s students.

The Katie Kirby Student Care Fund exists to address the immediate basic care needs of a growing number of students. It has proven to be a way the ACU community comes alongside these students, reaching out as the hands and feet of Jesus.

“When people give to ACU, it not only shapes my next four years – it impacts the rest of my life.

Giving to help students like me not only blesses my life but will bear fruit in the lives of others.”

LESSLY ROCHA (’21) Bible and ministry and marketing major McKinney, Texas

“I love getting to share the ACU story with students and their parents. It’s great to do a lot of unique and cool work behind the scenes for the engineering program. ACU was my first choice of colleges, and scholarships made all the difference.”

JOSH DOWELL (’22) Engineering major Amarillo, Texas

“I’m grateful for the generosity that led me on my unlikely journey from South Sudan to Abilene and to my amazing ACU family. This community is a blessing. You are a blessing. Thank you for believing in students like me and helping prepare us to make a difference.”

FELIX MBIKOGBIA (’21) Computer science major Yambio, South Sudan

“Scholarships made it possible for me to attend ACU. This was the right choice. I see God working in my life here in ways big and small.

I’m so thankful.”

ANNA KATE BRADFORD (’23) Communication disorders major College Station, Texas

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Students shine as Fulbright Scholars Every year since 2016-17, ACU has produced at least one award recipient for the government’s flagship international educational exchange program.

Autumn Vaught (’21), a secondary education graduate from Burke, Virginia, received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award for the 2021-22 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

ACU has a long tradition of persons being awarded Fulbrights, dating back to the 1950s. The university was named a top-producing Fulbright institution in 2018-19, when three students received awards.

“We are very proud of our Fulbright recipients,” said Dr. Jason Morris (’94 M.S.), dean of the Honors College, director of the Office of Major Scholarships at ACU and a two-time Fulbright scholar himself. “I think the Fulbright program is a great fit for students at ACU due to its service orientation and global mission.”

Vaught, a third-generation ACU student who also participated in a mission trip to an orphanage in Costa Rica and studied abroad in Montevideo, Uruguay, is spending nine months as an English Teaching Assistant in a plurilingual high school in the Galicia region of Spain.

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Engineering and physics major Olivia Peters also is a talented musician.

Mackenzie Dalton, an accounting major with an English minor, was selected to serve as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia following her graduation in May 2019.

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PILLAR TWO:

Enhance and Increase Transformational Experiences

Students, faculty and staff travel across the globe on trips organized through the Halbert Center for Missions and Global Service. Pictured here are students who served on a WorldWide Witness missions trip to Stellenbosch, South Africa.

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Enhance the ACU experience for all students and create modern, welcoming spaces where they develop life-changing relationships

Goal: $118 million Faculty who invite students into their homes, and who pray with them in and outside of the classroom. Graduate-level research opportunities for undergraduates. Missions opportunities that tie the importance of global-mindedness and service with a student’s career path. Relationships built with peers and mentors in a residence hall or in Chapel.

These and other important distinctions make ACU stand out above all others – a holistic approach to higher education that prepares the difference-makers our world needs for lives of servant leadership.

We want every student to have access to transformational experiences in and outside of the classroom – the spiritual formation, experiential learning and service opportunities they cannot find anywhere else.

And part of that transformational experience comes from the relationships our students create. The life-changing community built between students, faculty, staff, parents and friends is what makes this such a special place.

Where we forge these relationships is important. These are the spaces where we come together to live, worship, perform, compete, cheer, champion, study, rest and recharge.

These are the places we call home.

This Victorian-era Central North Oxford house is the new home for ACU Study Abroad in Great Britain.

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BY THE NUMBERS

72,000

Square footage of Bullock Hall, the university’s newest residence hall. The four-story building opened in August 2021.

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Percentage of students who studied abroad in 2019-20.

Study Abroad program locations include Oxford, England; Leipzig, Germany; and Montevideo, Uruguay.

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Percentage of ethnic diversity among the student body in Fall 2021.

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Reimagine residential living communities and student-centric spaces Living and working in community is one of the most crucial ways in which students develop the skills needed to make a real difference in the world.

Learning to be a good neighbor by gaining appreciation for personal histories, experiences and beliefs, and being open to new ideas, is part of what makes someone a global-minded leader. As such, upgrades to our student-centric spaces are vital to fostering a vibrant community.

Residence halls Our residential communities are designed to help students develop as individuals and as Christians, confident in their calling and able to mediate and solve conflicts in a complex society. And our residence halls need to adequately provide the space to make that a reality.

Freshman Village, a comprehensive renovation and construction initiative, is underway along East North 16th Street to modernize ACU’s residence halls to meet the living and learning needs of today’s students.

Fueled by generous contributions, the first of these new communities, Bullock Hall, opened in August 2021, on the former site of McDonald Hall. The second new residence hall, Wessel Hall, broke ground in 2022 on the former site of Gardner Hall. Future elements of the project include the renovation of historic Sewell Theatre into a Student Life Hub, where students can gather and student organizations can meet, as well as renovation of the other residence halls along the Freshman Village corridor.

Phase One of ACU’s Freshman Village housing initiative was completed in Fall 2021 with the opening of 72,000-square-foot Bullock Hall for first-year students.

Wessel Hall represents Phase Two of Freshman Village along East North 16th Street. The 96,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in Fall 2023 and house 350 first-year students.

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Architectural renderings of ACU’s renovation of Moody Coliseum: The North Entrance and inside the arena.

WING IS 11 X 17. DO NOT SCALE CONTENTS OF THIS DR AWING.

PROJECT NAME

PROJECT INFORMATION

3200 Southwest Fwy #900,

Client - Abilene Christian University

Phase: Design Intent

Houston, TX 77027

Project Number: 19.09011.05

Issued For: Review

Date: 11/15/2021

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NOT FOR C

Copyright © 2021 Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc.

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

No.

DESCRIPTION

DATE

1

DESIGN INTENT PHASE 1

11/05/2021

2

DESIGN INTENT PHASE 2

11/15/2021

3

SHE

EXTERIOR SIGNAGE – NORTH ENTRANCE

0

CONSTRUCTION

EET NUMBER

07.0

Moody Coliseum and other student-centric spaces Home to some of ACU’s biggest traditions, Moody Coliseum has served as the soul of campus for decades. Weekday Chapel gatherings bring thousands of people into the facility that also hosts Sing Song, Commencement, concerts, basketball games, volleyball matches and other major events. From the time our freshmen say farewell to their family members at the Freshman Blessing to the time they walk across the Commencement stage, Moody provides bookends to the ACU experience and so much more in between.

The venerable coliseum, opened in 1968, saw more than a half-century of use with only minor improvements.

However, significant upgrades are underway to bring Moody up to date, including seating and improved accessibility, lighting and sound systems, new classroom and office spaces, expanded lobbies, a hospitality suite and more.

Renovations will provide a better and more exciting experience for event attendees and participants, student-athletes and their fans, including the growing number of televised events in ACU’s modern NCAA Division I era.

And if Moody is home, the campus mall area is ACU’s backyard. Additional plans include re-envisioning the adjacent campus mall area for beautification and improved flow, making it more suitable for university and community gatherings. The GATA sorority is planning a new fountain and gathering area, and the women of Sigma Theta Chi raised funds for the Siggie Pavilion, which has seen heavy use as a location for outdoor Chapel gatherings and concerts.

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Engineering major Marshall Beard (’19) worked on building a latrine in the small village of Linares in Honduras. He and his classmates also built a pressurized system to deliver water from a river to a dairy farm.

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Expand opportunities for students to engage in life-changing and spiritually formative experiences ACU was recognized in 2021 for the third consecutive year as the highest-ranking Texas university in a U.S. News & World Report national benchmark focused on student success.

This honor comes as no surprise to those leading our university, who see this success as stemming from the daily investment into the cornerstone of the ACU experience: of the student experience: collaborative and innovative learning environments.

Research by the American Association of Colleges and Universities has focused on a list of high-impact practices providing significant formational benefits for students who participate. These practices lead to greater student success, higher retention and graduation rates, and an education focused on the whole person. High-impact practices include global and cross-cultural learning, internships, undergraduate research and service learning.

While ACU has already been recognized for achievement in many of these areas, it is time to build on our sustained success and significantly increase opportunities for the types of transformative experiences that supplement traditional classroom teaching to create well-rounded, mission-focused graduates. And this will require increased investment in our core experiential learning programs through annually funded and endowed gifts which will strengthen these programs and allow more students across campus to participate in these rich experiences, especially when financial barriers stand in the way.

Spiritual formation Developing Christian leaders doesn’t just happen. It requires a commitment at every level to activities and practices that, over time, form students more fully into the image of Christ. Chapel and Bible classes are a part of the process, but we hope for more for our students. We are committed to ensuring that, by the time students graduate, they have been mentored, challenged to grow in their faith and are ready to go out with a sense of their God-given callings into communities, churches and workplaces.

One way this can happen is through service-learning experiences. Whether in a local church, campus organization, the Abilene community or locations across the globe, practicing service teaches service.

Missions opportunities such as WorldWide Witness summer internships and the Wildcat Academics on Mission program will encourage students to integrate their academic studies into practical service alongside seasoned ministry teams around the globe, spreading God’s love near and far.

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Undergraduate research and internships ACU has a long-standing tradition of inviting undergraduate students to do research alongside faculty. This is unheard of at most research universities, where graduate students receive the lion’s share of research opportunities. Our undergraduate and graduate students co-publish papers with faculty, travel during the summers for field research and work with a cross-collegiate team in the NEXT Lab, among other settings. Endowments to support student research stipends, as well as funding for faculty mentor stipends, will greatly expand these mutually beneficial experiences.

In addition, internships are required by many employers as they look for graduates who have already gained practical experience as part of their undergraduate education. Most for-profit internships are paid; however, students regularly have costs related to housing and board that may be beyond their reach. Internship endowments to help defray these financial constraints are investing in a life-changing experience for ACU students.

Study Abroad and other cross-cultural experiences By immersing in a new culture, ACU Study Abroad programs inspire our students to build connections, discover new insights about themselves and the world, and expand their perspective in a way that strengthens and deepens their faith and intellect.

As we endeavor to prepare students to be lights in the world, expanding scholarship funds to ACU Study Abroad will allow more of them to experience the world. The opportunity to live and learn in Oxford, England; Leipzig, Germany; or Montevideo, Uruguay, transforms students year after year. In addition, several academic departments take shorter, major-specific trips to locations including Silicon Valley, New York and Italy.

Siburt Institute for Church Ministry ACU is blessed to have a resource that helps students, graduates, churches and church leaders in many different ways. Since the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry was established in 2012, the institute has equipped and served church leaders and other Christ-followers for God’s mission in the world. It helps our ministry graduates find placements in churches, and it supports our alumni through programs such as the Contemplative Ministers’ Initiative, Summit and Intersection. Because of our shared mission to spread the Gospel, ACU benefits when healthy churches flourish with the help of the Siburt Institute.

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Gabbie Tiner (’19), of Plano, Texas, painted while studying abroad in Summer 2018 with art and design faculty and classmates in Italy.

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Members of the Abilene community join faculty, staff and students at Entra La Plaza, one of many events sponsored annually during Hispanic Heritage Month by ACU student organization Hispanos Unidos. Entra La Plaza features food, music and other traditions from several Hispanic nations.

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Embody a culture of diversity and inclusion Even as we send students abroad to experience our diverse world, we must continue to develop a culture in our Abilene and online campuses that appreciates and celebrates our differences.

From the admittance of the first Black undergraduate students in 1962, to the Fall 2021 semester, where 45% of ACU students identified as non-white, ACU continues to more fully reflect the spectrum of cultures around us. Our goal is to ensure we provide a supportive environment for all cultures.

ACU is on the verge of another milestone: being formally designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). This designation recognizes our growing population of Hispanic students and can unlock key federal funding for programs to support these students.

These shifts call for changes to provide greater access and opportunity for students of color. An increase in student scholarships is critical, as well as increasing funding to encourage greater participation in high-impact practices like Study Abroad, short-term missions and other experiential learning programs.

We must also invest in scholars of color to ensure our diverse students have faculty mentors who better represent them. This could include funding to send our brightest and best to pursue doctoral studies, recruit additional diverse faculty, and support existing faculty in the tenure and promotion process.

An additional avenue of investment is focused on the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action. Founded in 2018, the center exists to foster racial unity within Churches of Christ, their affiliate institutions and throughout God’s kingdom. While much of its work happens with church leaders outside Abilene, one vital aspect focuses on student research into the root causes of racial division and how we can, with prayer, contemplation and conversation, bring healing.

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ACU guard Dominique Golightly (’20) helped lead the Wildcat women’s basketball team into a first-round game with Baylor in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

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Advance Division I, Christ-centered athletics No single event in decades brought more attention to the university than our men’s basketball team’s run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March 2021. More than 12 million people watched the Wildcats’ upset of the Texas Longhorns and subsequent matchup against UCLA. The university – and more importantly, its mission and its student-athletes – received the kind of global publicity only March Madness can provide. The Purple and White made a splash everywhere from The Today Show to ESPN’s SportsCenter, and our Christ-centered athletics program helped show the world what ACU is all about.

We are proud of what our student-athletes and coaches accomplish, and continued investment in them is paramount to sustaining their success. Since moving to Division I in 2013, we have steadily increased our investment in athletics facilities, coaching and support staff, and team support. To reach the next level, we need to continue to grow Division I-level support.

Key ways to support ACU Athletics include head coaching endowments. These funds, particularly in men’s and women’s basketball, and football, will combine with the recently established Joe Bullock Baseball Coaching Endowment to support the staff that walks alongside student-athletes in their academic, athletic and spiritual development.

Other opportunities include sport-specific excellence funds and facility improvements to ensure the Wildcats practice, study and build relationships in Division I-level environments.

A major renovation of Moody Coliseum benefits our basketball and volleyball teams and fans. Likewise, upgrades to Crutcher Scott Field will provide a more comfortable experience for baseball fans while offering players and staff a place to prepare together. And the new Byron Nelson Clubhouse, named after the PGA legend and former ACU trustee, is already paying dividends as a premier facility for our golf program.

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ACU guard Coryon Mason drives to the basket during the Wildcats’ thrilling 53-52 upset win over No. 3 Texas in the East Regional of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

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BY THE NUMBERS

12.1 million

Combined broadcast viewership for ACU’s men’s basketball games against The University of Texas at Austin and UCLA during the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

94.5 million

Total reach of posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube during the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

190,030

Total new users to ACU websites during March Madness in 2021.

13

Number of teams in the Western Athletic Conference, where the Wildcats began play in 2021-22.

The WAC sponsors championships in 20 sports and has an established reputation for excellence. It also has member institutions in or near some of the nation’s most diverse markets and metropolitan cities, such as Los Angeles, Dallas/ Fort Worth, Phoenix, Seattle and Salt Lake City.

The golf program’s Byron Nelson Clubhouse

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Answering the call Like the early pioneers of our university seeking a new campus, we now have a choice: remain where we are comfortable or heed the call to something greater. Just as a city on a hill cannot be hidden, we also cannot shrink from the challenges and opportunities ahead of us.

Now is the time to seize the moment and the momentum. We must take advantage of our increased visibility as an emerging national university and advance our reputation through these campaign priorities.

With a clear vision and our feet firmly planted on a mission grounded in God, we ask you to join us on the journey.

Thanks to bold and faithful leadership, the generosity of the ACU community, and God’s providence, we are uniquely positioned to become one of the nation’s premier Christian universities. Our light is shining, and the future is bright.

But to truly catch a glimpse of where we are going, we do not merely look ahead.

We look up. And we climb higher, together.

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“You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

– MATTHEW 5: 14-16 (NIV)

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Board of Trustees April Anthony, Chair, Dallas, Texas Tod Brown, Midland, Texas Dr. Arthur Culpepper, Santa Fe, New Mexico Dr. Ralph Draper, Houston, Texas Mark Duncum, Decatur, Texas Cecil Eager, New Braunfels, Texas Donny Edwards, Decatur, Texas David Flow, Brentwood, Tennessee Shelton Gibbs IV, J.D., Terrell, Texas Dr. Jack Griggs, Abilene, Texas Berto Guerra, San Antonio, Texas Kyle Hammond, Midland, Texas Jana Hanner, Baird, Texas Belinda Harmon, Aledo, Texas Leslie Hutchins, M.D., Abilene, Texas Guy Lewis, D.D.S., The Woodlands, Texas Steve Mack, Boerne, Texas Wayne Massey, M.D., Durham, North Carolina Bill Minick III, J.D., Dallas, Texas Elise Mitchell, Nashville, Tennessee Fernando Nasmyth, J.D., Atlanta, Georgia Charles Onstead, Sugar Land, Texas Randy Owen, Castle Rock, Colorado Carole Phillips, Colleyville, Texas Jim Porter, Abilene, Texas Alan Rich, Boerne, Texas Doug Robison, Abilene, Texas Marelyn Shedd, Abilene, Texas Rick Wessel, Westlake, Texas Mitch Wilburn, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

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OUR MISSION ACU’s mission is to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.

OUR PROMISE ACU is a vibrant, innovative, Christ-centered community that engages students in authentic spiritual and intellectual growth, equipping them to make a real difference in the world.

OFFICE OF ADVANCEMENT Dan Macaluso Vice President for Advancement dan.macaluso@acu.edu 325-674-2659

Rendi Hahn Assistant Vice President for Campaigns rendi.hahn@acu.edu 325-674-2394

220040-0322

Abilene Christian University ACU Box 29132 Abilene, Texas 79699-9132 acu.edu