Science Remains Top Priority

CAMPAIGN SURPASSES $67 MILLION

Science Remains Top Priority

Even though the goal in the Climb Higher Campaign has been surpassed by more than $12 million, University officials are extending the campaign deadline another 3½ months to take advantage of a challange grant by the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., for the expansion and renovation of the science center. As of mid-October, the University had raised more than $67 million in the Climb Higher Campaign for its top three priorities — scholarships, science facilities and athletic facilities. The campaign, with an original goal of $55 million, kicked off in 2014 and was scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2020. However, the University is extending the campaign to April 14, 2021, in order to raise additional donations to meet the Mabee Foundation’s $2 million challange grant. The University is about $1.7 million away from its target of $16.6 million. The grant challenge will be gifted only if the target is fully met. The complete renovation and addition to the science center will cost $18.6 million, which would be the largest total for a capital construction project in the University’s 186-year history. The new science center will be named the Thomas and Frances Wilson Science Center, in honor of Frances Wilson’s lead gift to the project. The Tulsa native honored her late husband by supporting the University in various ways over the years, including the renovation of the Munger-Wilson Memorial Chapel and the adjacent Wilson Family Plaza in 2016. Lori McBee, vice president for advancement and alumni engagement, praised the support of the University’s alumni and friends in the Climb Higher Campaign.

“University of the Ozarks continues to be blessed with many loving and generous alumni and friends,” McBee said. “Yes, we have surpassed our $55 million goal for the campaign, but we are marching on a little longer so that we have the science center funding completed by April 2021. We are so close to seeing this initiative fully funded. Ozarks continues to be an amazing place.” The renovation and additions to the science center will add 18,000 square feet to the current facility for the University’s natural and health science programs, including biology, environmental sciences, chemistry, health sciences, physics and psychology. The complete renovation to the existing building, which was built in 1969, will include state-of-art classrooms and laboratories as well as new dedicated research areas. The new science program will be named the Smith-Broyles Science Program in honor of alumnus and former trustee Dr. Alvin C. Broyles and long-time Ozarks science professor Dr. T.L. “Prof” Smith. The University is also raising money from alumni and friends to name a laboratory in memory of former biology professor, Dr. Doug Jeffries, who died in 2018. Jeffries shared his love of science as a beloved professor at Ozarks from 1991 to 2017. There are also other naming opportunities available for classrooms, laboratories and offices. For more information on supporting the Dr. Jeffries Laboratory fund or any of the other naming opportunities, please contact either Hunter Jackson at hjackson@ozarks.edu or Dawn J.M. Dvoracek at ddvoracek@ ozarks.edu.

26 /// TODAY, FALL 2020