Classes have resumed and students are adjusting to the cold weather on campus.  It didn't take long before one of our student workers brought up the subject of spring break! 

Our office has been busy preparing for our annual Founders' Day celebration.  This year we will be celebrating the 182nd anniversary of our founding with a special convocation.  At that convocation ceremony the inaugural presentation of The Harvey C. and Winifred Ann Pitt Professorship of Biology will be made.  The ceremony will take place on Thursday, February 18th.

I'd like to thank each of you who made a Christmas or year-end gift to McKendree.  If you would like to make a secure on-line gift prior to the end of the calendar year, please click here.

McK Strong:

We are also concentrating on this year's annual fund campaign:  McK Strong.  

What is the annual fund and why is the annual fund so important to McKendree University.  The annual fund is the source of funds the university uses for day-to-day expenses on our campuses in Lebanon and in Kentucky.  

Included within these expenses are:

• Student Scholarships
• Technology Enhancements
• Faculty Recruitment and Retention
• Facility Upgrades
• Academic and Administrative Expenses
• Library Resources
• Research Opportunities

What makes McKendree strong?  

That was the question several of us pondered as we debated the impact of the recession and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on support to McKendree University.  Being 181 years old, McKendree has certainly been in this situation before.  McKendree has witnessed every war since the Mexican-American War of 1846 and every economic depression since the Panic of 1837.

What we finally determined is that people make McKendree strong.  People who believe in, and financially support, our mission.

From these discussions, it was easy to develop the theme for this year's annual fund drive: McK Strong.  For a short on-line message about McK Strong, please click here.

To make a secure on-line gift to McK Strong, our annual fund campaign, please click here.   With a gift of $100 to our annual fund, we'll send you a McK Strong wristband.

The tradition of giving to McKendree:  

McKendree students, parents, grandparents, friends and alumni continue a rich tradition of assisting our alma mater.  This tradition, known as the McKendree Legacy, means current and future students are supported by the financial gifts and prayers of our friends and alumni.  It is a legacy which began with the founding of our college. 

 

On February 20, 1828, an organizational meeting was held to take definite action to establish a seminary.  In the following days organizers sought subscriptions and 105 subscribers donated to support the Lebanon Seminary fund.  These 105 subscribers are the founders of McKendree.  Their gift paved the way for the purchase of the original campus and for the construction of the first buildings.