LSC Receives 1 million Dollar Grant from Valade Family Trust

(See Above For headline)
BLURB: At the last State of the College Address, it was announced that LSC has received a $1 Million gift. Students wonder where the money will go.
2/12/07

By Keith Whitcomb Jr. (Edited for the Web by Eric Downing)

Good News At The College Address

Carol Moore, president of Lyndon State College said at the State of the College address last Friday that a donor wished to only be known as the Valade Family Trust donated 1 million dollars to the funding of the college.
“I am pleased to announce that Lyndon has received its first $1 million gift,” said Moore.
The gift came as the result of an after-church meeting between chairwoman of the Board of Visitors, Peggy Thomas-Kezar, and Bob Wilson, an employee of ViaSat. “You never know who you are talking to and what’s going to come out of it,” Moore said.

Moore showed a breakdown of the ways in which the $1 million will be spent. One hundred thousand dollars will go to moving the Academic Support Center to the Samuel Read Hall Library, $200,000 will go to “quality improvements” and “student success”, $100,000 will go to an endowment for “lecture in the arts”, $200,000 will got to “faculty development”, $325,000 will go towards “matching endowments,” and $75,000 will go to architectural models for a new academic center and student center.

Mixed Feelings From Students

“How much of that am I getting?” Jason Cook, a junior Business major said. “I think it’s amazing that a bunch of flatlanders are going to be getting my money.”

“I think that in addition to that, everyone in the school should get an envelope with a dollar in it. Just to make us feel like a part of the process,” Mathew Wojcik, junior TVS major, said.

Moore also announced that the ViaSat company had given $500,000 in computer technology to the college, thus upgrading the college’s system to one gigabit. Richard Baldridge, president and CEO of ViaSat, a San Diego based company, spoke to those assembled about the gift via phone. “I just know that it’s IT equipment and they’re happy,” Moore said.

What Does This Mean For LSC?

The gift means that there is now a relationship between LSC and ViaSat, Chuck Kezar said.

Moore cited the importance of LSC gathering its own funds because financial aid from the state is low.

Among other news that Moore announced was a three percent increase in students for the spring semester, a slight slippage from last semester. Moore also said that LSC is on track with the budget, but the carry-over funds from last semester aren’t as high due to medical claims that were filed.


SIDEBAR version of Headline: "Million Dollar Gift"

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