Pitt-Bradford Kicks Off $17.5 Million Fundraising Campaign

Pitt-Bradford launched a fundraising campaign Friday, March 23rd to raise $17.5 million by the end of its 50^th anniversary year in 2014.

Dr. Livingston Alexander, president, announced that 60 percent of the goal, which will benefit scholarships, academics, technology, capital projects and athletics, has already been raised.

The event included a brief program to introduce the campaign’s goals, which includes $6.5 million for scholarships and $1.25 million for the emerging American Refining Group/Harry R. Halloran Jr. Energy Institute.

“There is a great deal at stake,” Alexander said in his remarks to those gathered for the launch celebration in Blaisdell Hall. “We have come a long way and achieved a position of prominence in the northeast. We envision that Pitt-Bradford will become a top-of-mind institution among high school students. … Students will benefit from these … gifts for the next 50 years and beyond.” 

Other priorities of the campaign are to raise $6.5 million for capital projects, including a Marilyn Horne Archive; $600,000 for an arts endowment; $550,000 for a technology endowment; $500,000 for a hospitality management test kitchen; $250,000 for high-definition equipment for the broadcast communications program; and $25,000 for an athletics endowment. 

Campaign co-chairman Greg Booth, president and chief executive officer of Zippo Manufacturing Co., said in an interview after his speech that for the members of the Institutional Advancement Council, which helped determine the campaign priorities, scholarships are always at the forefront of their minds.

In his remarks, Booth sounded like the marketer he is at heart, touting the product Pitt-Bradford has made available to the community.

“We have a great education at an affordable price in an attractive environment,” he said, adding that investment in scholarships and academic and technology upgrades are needed to make sure that remains true.

Campaign co-chairman Harvey Golubock, president of ARG Resources, emphasized the need to support public higher education, citing his own experiences and saying that without public higher education, he would not have succeeded to the extent that he has.

He also emphasized the importance of scholarships as government support evaporates not only for public higher education, but also for student loan programs.

Golubock also pointed to new programs Pitt-Bradford has started to help students find success in the world of work, criminal justice, hospitality management and petroleum technology.

“My own priorities lie in the energy field,” said Golubock, who is the former president and CEO of American Refining Group. He touted the petroleum technology program, saying, “Virtually every graduate of that program has found employment.”

The $1.25 million to be set aside for the Energy Institute will be used to create a laboratory space where Dr. Matt Kropf, director, can teach students about producing biodiesel fuel by converting waste fryer oil from the campus into fuel for campus trucks and equipment. The space and equipment will be a vital part of a new four-year energy science and technology degree that Kropf is developing.

The technology endowment will support not only wireless infrastructure on campus, but also classrooms designed to simulate a business environment where students will work in groups monitored by a professor.

Bernie Picklo, academic technology integrator at Pitt-Bradford, made presentations in the lobby to show off this futuristic classroom, which he said would enhance collaboration and give students more individual attention from faculty members.

Another campaign priority is a test kitchen for the students of the hospitality management program, which will allow students to receive more experience in food service and enable them to gain a range of skills to enhance their professionalism.

Campaign priorities were chosen to dovetail with the goals of the campus’s five-year strategic plan, enhance the student experience and keep Pitt-Bradford competitive.

For more information on the campaign, contact Jill Ballard at (814)362-5091 or jballard@pitt.edu.

( PICTURED:  At left, Chris Luke ’94, president of the Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association, draws the name of a student who won a $1,000 scholarship as part of the launch festivities. At right is Dr. Livingston Alexander, president. Stephani Peterson, a psychology major from Bethlehem, was the winner. Luke and his wife, Megan, donated the scholarship.)