The lobby of the Henderson Campus Center was packed with students, alumni, faculty, administrators, family and friends celebrating the ‘In For Allegheny: Our Pathway Forward’ campaign kickoff on the evening of Friday, Oct. 18.
“This is the most significant campaign in Allegheny College history,” said President Ron Cole, ’87, in an interview with The Campus. “And it’s motivated for this simple reason: Allegheny changes lives, and that matters.”
At the kickoff event, Cole announced that the college has already raised more than $125 million, half of its $250 million goal.
In an interview with The Campus, Vice President of Institutional Advancement Matt Stinson said the five-year campaign coincides with Cole’s presidency, which began in 2022.
The campaign is centered around three areas of focus: Invite, Inspire and Invest. Cole said these objectives are based on what the college administration understands it needs to accomplish in order to be an institution that thrives.
The campaign dovetails with the college’s Strategic Pathway, which “aims to position Allegheny College for success in the 21st century by building on its strengths and values,” according to the college website. The Strategic Pathway includes five main goals: Academic Excellence and Strong Outcomes; Vibrant and Inclusive Campus; Broaden Academic Offerings; Community and Economic Development; and Operational and Financial Sustainability.
“The Strategic Pathway provides a framework for the campaign, and the campaign empowers us to reach the goals that we’ve set out in the Strategic Pathway,” Cole said.
It is a priority during the coming years for the college’s evolution to remain true to its roots and core values.
“Alumni are, I believe, glad to hear and to read and understand that we’re not giving up our core identity as a national liberal arts college,” Cole said, “but actually using that to empower new ways of thinking about what a liberal arts education means.”
Allegheny Student Government President Ella DeRose, ’27, is an ambassador for the ‘In For Allegheny’ campaign.
“As student leaders, it’s important to represent and be there to celebrate our college,” DeRose said in an interview with The Campus. “As part of the campaign, the Board of Trustees were there, a lot of alumni, professors, members of our community, so it was meant to celebrate everyone in our community and people who support us. It’s supposed to be everyone in the community coming together.”
No matter what your role is in the Allegheny community, Stinson said that everyone is able to participate in the campaign — including in the “Invite” portion.
Current students can reach out to their high schools and younger friends to tell them about their Allegheny experience, and alumni can sit down and talk with the young people in their lives about why they may be a good fit for Allegheny. Inviting prospective students to campus is particularly important, Stinson said, because it significantly increases the likelihood the students will commit to Allegheny.
Stinson said additional resources will be directed to scaling up and adding more structure to existing programs geared toward recruiting students, such as the “Colleges That Change Lives” admissions tour.
“My hope is that every single person on campus and all of our alumni and all of our families and the Meadville community sees themselves within this campaign,” Stinson said.
Allegheny’s last major campaign aimed to raise $200 million over a 10-year period; Stinson described setting the goal for this campaign $50 million higher in half the time as “aggressive,” but achievable.
Stinson said he has already seen participation from broad swaths of the Allegheny community to invest in the college’s future.
Gator Give Day is one avenue for that.
“One of the things I’m most proud of, and I hope the entire campus is proud of, is on Gator Give Day this past year, the class that participated the most was the immediate class that had graduated in 2023,” Stinson said. “So, those young alumni who were only one year out — a higher percentage of that class gave than any other class, including the 50th reunion class. That just never happens, it doesn’t. So, that tells me something about the experience that those now alumni had while they were students.”
The funds raised during the campaign will go toward major renovations in academic buildings, such as Quigley Hall and Reis Hall.
Functioning as the college’s library until 1976, the historic Reis Hall was constructed in the late 19th century under the leadership of Allegheny President William Henry Crawford. Now, the building will soon house the Allegheny Lab for Innovation & Creativity and the Department of Computer and Information Science, as well as learning spaces for other disciplines. Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science and Chair of the Computer Science Department Janel Jumadinova said she is excited about how the new space will enhance the student experience.
“It’s been a really exciting process,” Jumadinva said. “We’ve been trying to have this building be a combination of something that upholds the history of the building, but also the college’s. Something that completely looks into the futuristic, tech world.”
Cole said projects such as these will help the college realize the Strategic Pathway’s first goal: Academic Excellence and Strong Outcomes.
Funds will also go towards renovations in Brooks Hall, as well as scholarships for students and other projects, according to Stinson.
“Our alumni are stepping up to make sure that we don’t just survive, but that we’re thriving into the 21st century,” Stinson said.
It is also important for students to invest in themselves by taking advantage of the resources available across campus.
“The great thing about Allegheny is you can do anything you want,” Stinson said. “After graduation, perhaps the intimidating thing sometimes for students is that you can do anything you want.”
This is where the “Inspire” portion comes into the campaign.
To set students up for success, Stinson said the college aims to expose students to many career options during their first two years and connect them with alumni who embody examples of different paths that are possible for them. Then, in students’ third and fourth years, the college aims to help students narrow their focus and find research and internship opportunities, through platforms like Gator2Gator.
“It’s not just about ‘Invest,’” Stinson said. “It’s about empowering our alumni to help in ways that are meaningful to the alumni and very useful to our students and our faculty.”
Upperclassmen students can also contribute to inspiring younger students by building relationships and exemplifying what is possible with an Allegheny education.
“What I want our students to understand is that this is a historic moment for Allegheny College,” Cole told The Campus. “We’re at a turning point. We’re facing challenges in higher education and we can shy away, or we can lean in and we can model exactly what we expect of our students — and that’s applying critical thought, that’s applying problem-solving skills, that’s making evidence-based decisions. That’s what we’re doing. I want our students to be proud of where they are now and proud of their alma mater when they graduate.”