We’re in the home stretch. The Venture Forward campaign has reached $17,700,000 toward our goal of $18,000,000. With six months left in this three-year effort, we’ve had 204 families, businesses, and granting agencies come together with gifts and pledges toward accomplishing six campaign objectives. Womack Residence Hall is completed and full of students. The baseball stadium is fully operational. Goodrich Hall is in the midst of a massive renovation, including the addition of a bell tower with elevators, stairs, restrooms, and a cross. The Song Nai Rhee Honors program is almost fully funded. The School of Nursing is growing and expanding as you read this. And the plans for the new Duke Student Commons are well under way. God is using generous people to make dreams come true.
Help us finish strong in this Venture.
Construction has begun on Goodrich Hall Tower project.
Live Construction Cam
A six-pronged campaign to raise $18,000,000 in three years.
Three significant building projects to increase capacity.
Construct a bell tower on the southwest corner of Goodrich Hall, connecting an elevator and bathrooms to each floor.
Convert the former Phoenix Inn into our largest and best residence hall.
Build a 15,000 square foot Student Commons, with dining for 600. Read more here.
Three significant program developments.
Expand our nursing program by adding an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Enrich the Song Nai Rhee Honors program.
Build a new stadium and baseball facility in Springfield, with Bushnell men’s baseball as the cornerstone.
How You Can Help
- Would you consider a one-time gift, or even a life gift, that expresses your gratitude and hope for Bushnell as a place where students find and answer God’s call on their lives?
- Would you consider leading a mini-campaign among your classmates, teammates, choir mates or hall mates?
- Would you consider making a matching gift or challenge gift to inspire other friends or alumni?
- Would you consider hosting a Bushnell dinner, inviting friends to join you in this cause?
- Would you consider becoming a Torchbearer, making a monthly gift that can add up to great things?
- And would you please remember Bushnell in your will or living trust?
Steady growth and expanding opportunities.
Those two unfolding realities describe the Bushnell experience over the last many years. With growth came fiscal viability and then health, along with pressing growth pains. We needed more space.
In 2017, the University’s Board of Trustees adopted an aggressive campus expansion plan to increase capacity. The 2017 plan placed a priority on the replacement of the historic Goodrich Building, which lacked accessibility and modern teaching modalities. A much larger, modern replacement building would have pulled a host of campus activities into a campus hub, allowing us to chip away at other pressing needs like housing and parking in other parts of campus.
Then Covid came. While we were adjusting and praying, God created a pathway that reshapes the vision and reorders our priorities. Our long-term lease agreement with the Phoenix Inn came to an end early, allowing us to own and occupy the hotel as our largest and best residence hall.
Moving the majority of our resident students to the north side of campus compels us to build a large Student Commons building, with dining for 600 and a new student center for recreation and social gatherings. This new hub of student life will be built on the site of Richardson Hall, including the lawn that runs down to the millrace.
To revitalize Goodrich a tower is being constructed on its southwest corner, with an elevator and bathrooms for each floor. The beautiful but tired old building is being refreshed, and the tower, with bells and a cross on top, will stand as a call to worship and a symbol of our Christ-centered community.
Buildings help, but they aren’t enough. We’ve expanded our nursing offerings to include an on-campus, face-to-face Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN). At the same time, a committed group of community leaders came together to build a new baseball stadium in Springfield, with Beacon men’s baseball as the centerpiece. All the while, we’ve been growing our commitment to the Song Nai Rhee Honors Program, allowing us to deepen and sustain our commitment to highly motivated scholars.
Venture Forward, then, is a six-pronged campaign to raise $18,000,000 in three years.
Contact the University Advancement office at 541-684-7318 or email advancement@bushnell.edu to learn more or schedule a visit to campus.
