HLG embarks on ‘ambitious’ $30 million capital campaign
HANNIBAL – Hannibal-LaGrange College (HLG) has announced a $30 capital campaign for the future growth of the college. The campaign will raise money for the school’s endowment and will fund a new state-of-the-art library and allied health/science center as well as provide for several other campus improvements.
Woodrow Burt, president of HLG, made the announcement Feb. 9 at a press conference on campus, calling the campaign “Building for the Future: Connecting Generations.”
“This will offer Missouri Baptists an enhanced opportunity for education,” he said. “Our people throughout the state – Baptist and non-Baptist – certainly deserve the best in their institution. They have that at our sister school Southwest Baptist and we want to provide that here as well.
Burt said the campaign has raised more than $3 million already, with trustees and faculty giving more than $600,000. The school’s goal is to raise the remaining $27 million in two years and break ground on the library portion by 2008.
“The current library and science buildings have seen better days,” Burt said. “We need to build new facilities to bring these programs into the 21st century. This ambitious campaign will do just that.”
The L.A. Foster Library and the T.M. Matthews Science Building were designed for use by a two-year college with less than half the current HLG enrollment. Seven million of the $30 million will be earmarked for the new library which will boast three times the floor space of the current library, for a total of 33,000 square feet – enough room to house 150,000 volumes. It will include wireless Internet access, an Internet café, computer labs, classrooms, a rare books room, and a fireside study.
“We’ll be able to house a lot more resource and do a lot more than we’re too cramped to do right now,” said library director Julie Andresen
For those familiar with the HLG campus, the new library will be located between Crouch Hall and the Roland Fine Arts Center, roughly parallel to Highway 168.
The Allied Health/Science Center, which represents $9 million, will be completed in two phases, with the Allied Health portion first. This will house HLG’s nursing programs and will potentially allow for a new program in dental hygienic.
“There is a major shortage of dental hygienists, especially in rural Missouri,” said Judy Lemons, associate professors of science education. “It’s just about impossible to find someone and it’s an excellent profession that pays extremely well. New facilities in science will attract more students to our science and medical programs. Students will know we are committed to the best education in science we can provide. Our medical community is always in need of more nurses, especially those trained in a caring environment such as we offer at HLG. Expanding our science programs will be as asset to our area employers.”
The science portion will house new a new greenhouse as well as classrooms and biology, chemistry and physics labs.
The Allied Health/Science building will be behind Pulliam Hall on the current site of the Becky Thatcher Building.
Four million dollars will be set aside for campus improvements including renovations of Pulliam Hall, Kleckner Hall, the current library, Nunn-Cook Hall and Crouch Hall. The remaining $10 million is earmarked for HLG’s endowment.
While the occasion was first and foremost dedicated to looking toward the future, Burt took the opportunity to recommit HLG to its firm, traditional biblical roots.
“Colleges like HLG still have the freedom to function with Christian values,” he said. “The moral absolutes that are vital to Christian leadership are taught and reinforced in our classrooms.”