Dear Friends,
It is with great excitement that I am looking forward to serving the Foundation for the upcoming year. The Foundation’s sole purpose is to benefit the Universities’ student body, faculty and its programs. The Foundation remains one of the largest among the regional Oklahoma universities thanks to all of you. The Foundation continued the vision of Dr. James Thomas by supporting the students of the University. During the 2008/2009 school year the Foundation gave almost 500 scholarships totaling $451,000. What a wonderful blessing to these students.
East Central continues to move forward as John Hargrave, an East Central alum and supporter, was named the Universities’ 8th President on July 1. John has unlimited passion and love for the University and will be a wonderful asset. The addition of new facilities such as the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center and the Pat O’Neal Strength and Conditioning Center are just two great examples of progress being made on campus.
We were so excited to have Mick Cowan, a long time fan of East Central serve as our Executive Director the last 18 months and looked forward to a long tenure for Mick. It is with great sadness that Mick resigned recently. So many of us can never say thank you for all the things Mick has done for us, but we will try. THANK YOU, Mick. The Foundation is better off for the time Mick did spend as Executive Director. There are some future young students that are going to have the benefit of Mick’s teaching ability.
The Foundation’s investment’s suffered the same fate as everyone else who was invested in the stock market during 2008, however, as of July 31, 2009 we have over $18,400,000 in assets.
The Foundation is made up of several wonderful people who put in thankless hours because East Central made a difference in their lives. One of those persons is Angela Ables who has served the Foundation for 24 years and most recently as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the previous year. We all owe Angela a debt of gratitude.
The Foundation thrives because of the generous support of its loyal alumni and friends and on behalf of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees we are forever grateful. Please continue to support the Foundation and the University through you gifts of time and financial resources.
Let’s continue to allow East Central to make a difference!
David Story
Chairman, Board of Trustees
East Central University Foundation