Campaign will turn vision into reality

One of the campaign goals is to build the first new classroom building on campus in nearly 40 years.

     Imagine taking a tour of Morningside College eight years from now.    

     A nursing professor watches through a two-way mirror as students work in a hospital-like setting to help a computer-simulated patient deliver a baby. Education students use the latest technology to watch as a top-notch teacher delivers a fourth-grade math lesson at a school 20 miles away. Business leaders talk to students in the new ag-industry program about job opportunities in the area. First-year students work with staff in the advising center to find their place at Morningside, and what they want to do for a career.

     The Annual Scholarship Fund is making college more affordable for almost every student on campus. The endowment has almost doubled in size, allowing the college to attract and retain the very best faculty members, among other things.

     New lighting and sound systems, new seats and new curtains greet community members arriving at Eppley Auditorium for what is now a year-round fine arts series. Dorm life is more comfortable for the 25 percent of the student body that lives in Dimmitt Hall, thanks to renovations such as new bathrooms and air conditioning.

     To make this vision a reality, Morningside College recently launched a $50-million campaign – Vision 2020: Transformation Part II.

     President John Reynders said this campaign will build on the success of the last campaign, This is Our Moment, which made physical improvements to the campus and saw full-time enrollment grow by almost 500 students.

     “Our last campaign transformed the college,” he said. “We were fragile. Now we are strong. We had a tired campus. Now it is one of Sioux City’s most beautiful spots.

     “This next campaign will take us to a whole new level,” he said. “It will take us from where we are today – a really good place – to becoming truly one of the top 10 colleges in the Midwest.”

     The college has already raised more than $32 million.

     Campaign goals are to create an academic village featuring the first new classroom building on campus in nearly 40 years, to grow the Annual Scholarship Fund and the endowment, and to renovate Dimmitt Hall and Eppley Auditorium.

     James Walker 1970 of Wayzata, Minn., is serving as campaign chair. Other campaign steering committee members are Michael Bennett 1975 of Sioux City; Lucy (Yoshioka) Buhler 1956 of Edmonds, Wash.; Skip Perley of Sioux City; Curtis White 1976 of El Segundo, Calif.; and Ronald Yockey 1970 of Dakota Dunes, S.D.

     “Morningside achieved tremendous success during its last campaign,” Walker said. “The Vision 2020 campaign will build on this momentum as we continue to transform Morningside into one of the best colleges in the Midwest.”

     To learn more about Vision 2020: Transformation Part II, go to www.morningside.edu/alumni/Vision2020.htm.

 -Jenny Welp