A Letter from the President Next steps

By on 8/30/2011

  
  

President L. Randolph Lowry lends a hand to project manager Rick Primm during the 90-day Fanning Hall renovation project.
President L. Randolph Lowry lends a hand to project manager Rick Primm during the 90-day Fanning Hall renovation project.

July 25 is always a special day for Rhonda and me. It is the day in 2005 that marked the beginning of our service to Lipscomb University. That was six years ago and, as many would share about work and life,“the days may be long but the years fly by!”

Now, as we begin the seventh year of leadership, we do so with the same enthusiasm, a great deal more knowledge and a much greater appreciation for what God and His people can do in His service.
We are thrilled to be at Lipscomb, and it is not hard to know why. This fall the university will welcome 25 new full-time faculty bringing to more than 100 the new faculty who have been hired in the last six years. There may be other small universities that have been so blessed during this difficult economic time, but I do not know of them. Faculty like these, who bring outstanding academic credentials, great experience at leading universities, a strong personal faith and a desire to contribute to our specific mission, are one of God’s blessings.

Those faculty will teach in a university that has added more than 40 academic degrees and programs in the last six years. In addition to the “game-changing” College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, our newest programs include a Center of Computer Science and Informatics, which this fall offers three new degrees in technology; the new College of Professional Studies, which will create a 21st-century platform for higher education innovation; and the School of TransformAging which now offers a leadership degree in aging services. Also this fall, we begin a new program in civic leadership through the Nelson and Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership as well as our third doctoral degree, a Doctor of Ministry degree offered by the Hazelip School of Theology. In the early fall, Lipscomb will open a state-of-the-art learning facility in nearby Williamson County which will expand our geographic reach. Again, in a time when many institutions are cutting programs, Lipscomb is expanding in creativity and service.

And, of course, the campus. After investing more than $54 million to upgrade the university’s facilities during the last six years, we have now begun the next $125 million investment that we are calling Lipscomb:Next. On May 9, we began a project about which all of us paused—the 90-day, $5 million renovation of Fanning Hall. It was the “Extreme Makeover–Dorm Edition!” Fanning Hall has been a part of the campus since 1961 when it was originally built for $400,000. Now, it will be the newest residence hall after being taken down to the studs and completely renovated. Fanning’s rebirth is indicative of what this university is all about: faithful legacies and exciting futures.

And just as we welcome students to the completed Fanning, we are breaking ground on a 25,000-square-foot nursing and health sciences building that will form the north side of the quad now anchored by the Hughes building. This will extend the campus farther toward Grandview Drive and will be followed in about 12 months with a new pharmacy lab and nutrition sciences building in the same quad.

In the last issue of Lipscomb Now we began to unveil the plan for 2016, Lipscomb:Next. Whether you have a stake in this university by virtue of being part of its past­—or if you believe the faithful work begun here more than 120 years ago is a stake in the future—I invite you to move with us to our NEXT step forward. Rhonda and I already look forward to July 25, 2016, and the community that will be Lipscomb then!