Writer: MIKE JAMES
Ashland Daily Independent

ASHLAND -- Ashland Community and Technical College's wildly successful six-year capital campaign closed out at $5.2 million in cash and other gifts, which was $2 million more than its original goal on Friday.

"I think that as the campaign went along, it gained momentum," said ACTC President Greg Adkins after a celebratory ceremony Friday.

"Today is a wonderful day for Ashland," said Kentucky Community and Technical College President Michael McCall at the ceremony, which also was attended by ACTC faculty and donors.

The ceremony was at Highlands Museum and Discovery Center in the Parsons building on Winchester Avenue.

The building, donated to ACTC by developer Perry Madden, was a major chunk of the total.

That and parcels in Russell and at the EastPark campus are valued at $1.5 million.

The college plans to renovate the building and use most of it as a convention center, offices and classrooms for its health occupations programs.

The gifts ranged from $1 to $1 million. The million-dollar gift came from an anonymous donor and is earmarked for an endowed chair in mathematics and science, said ACTC director of advancement Frank Salisbury.

Other major gifts included funding of faculty and nursing classes by King's Daughters Medical Center, Booth Foundation funding of health science programs and dual enrollment classes, Saul and Harriett Kaplan Foundation scholarships, Lincoln and Katherine Scott Scholarship Fund, partial funding of evening nursing classes by Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital and the emergency student support fund.

In all, the campaign funded $333,000 in scholarships.

Driving the campaign was a priority because of the value of ACTC to the community, according to campaign co-chair Guy Spriggs, who isn't an Ashland native and didn't go to the college.

"I felt it was important to do something for the community and I also felt we needed to let people know what a gem in the rough we have," he said.

"I know how much my late husband lived the college," said Pat Goodpaster, widow of Bob Goodpaster, ACTC's first president. "He knew it offered the opportunity to be better prepared for better jobs or to earn an associate's degree and move up to bachelor's degrees and even beyond."