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College meets Walton challenge,
then raises $2 million more
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2005
WOOSTER, Ohio - The College of Wooster has met The Walton
Family Foundation's challenge, raising more than $8 million to claim
the full match for the renovation of Kauke Hall. James T. Clarke,
chair of the Independent Minds campaign, made the announcement at
a dinner for the college's board of trustees here Friday night.
He then stunned the group by announcing a pair of million dollar
gifts, one from the Timken Foundation of Canton, Ohio, the other
from Stanley C. and Flo K. Gault of Wooster, to complete funding
of the Kauke project.
"The Gaults and the Timken Foundation have helped us punctuate
this historic effort with a pair of exclamation points," said
R. Stanton Hales, Wooster's president, "and I am grateful to
them for their generosity and their long-standing commitment to
The College of Wooster."
The Timken Foundation, a private family foundation in existence
since 1934, generally makes grants for capital projects in communities
in which The Timken Company has a significant presence. Stanley
C. Gault, a former chairman and CEO of both Rubbermaid Incorporated
and The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., is an emeritus life member
of the college's board of trustees and served as chairman of the
board from 1987 to 2000. Both he and his wife, Flo, are graduates
of The College of Wooster.
The Walton challenge was announced in January 2004. Walton Foundation
officials told the college they would match every dollar raised
for the Kauke renovation before March 1, 2005, up to a total of
$8 million. Last November, the 1525 Foundation of Cleveland announced
a "challenge within the challenge," promising to give
the final $500,000 once the total raised from other sources reached
$7.5 million.
"This was the single most ambitious fund-raising effort the
college has ever undertaken," Hales said. "Our trustees
provided critical leadership throughout, and our alumni and friends
responded with an outpouring of support down the homestretch."
In the final three-month push to meet the challenge, more than
600 Wooster alumni and friends, and 35 foundations and corporations
stepped forward with gifts ranging from $25 to $1 million. More
than 300 responded to exhortations to "buy a brick for Kauke"
by making pledges of $1,500 or more that will be recognized with
commemorative bricks in a new courtyard on the south side of the
building.
Home to more than a dozen academic departments, Kauke Hall is
one of The College of Wooster's oldest buildings, the intellectual
heart and symbolic centerpiece of campus. Generations of first-year
students have marched through the building's central arch to their
first Convocation, and again four years later to Commencement.
The $18 million renovation of Kauke will be the largest capital
project ever undertaken by the college. Work will begin after commencement
in May. The building will be closed during the 2005-2006 academic
year and will reopen in the fall of 2006.
The College of Wooster is an independent liberal arts college,
nationally recognized for an innovative curriculum that emphasizes
independent learning. Each Wooster senior works one-on-one with
a faculty mentor to create an original research project, written
work, performance or art exhibit. Founded in 1866, the college enrolls
approximately 1,800 students.
In October 2003, the college launched Independent Minds: The Campaign
for Wooster, the largest fund-raising effort in its history. To
date, $102 million has been raised toward a goal of $122 million
for capital projects, endowment and current operations. The campaign
will conclude on June 30, 2007.
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