The Greenville College Board of Trustees, at their fall meeting this November, announced the naming of the Watson and Bonnie Tidball Alumni House and Welcome Center. The Tidball Alumni House, which will be dedicated during the 2008 Commencement Weekend, will serve as a symbolic - as well as physical - connection between GC and its alumni, linking alumni more effectively to the institution and to each other.

A key component of the three-fold strategy devised by the Office of Alumni Relations, which focuses on connecting with alumni on campus, where they live and online, the Tidball Alumni House will provide space for Alumni Relations offices, social gatherings and college receptions, as well as overnight accommodations for visiting guests.

The Tidball Alumni House is named for Greenville College alumni and long-time residents of Greenville, Watson '49 and Bonnie '48 Tidball. "For decades Watson and Bonnie Tidball have been welcoming students, faculty and guests into their home and into their lives," states David Hoag, vice president for College Advancement. "The name Tidball is synonymous with hospitality, warmth and welcome."

The Tidball's professional service to Greenville started in 1951, when Watson assumed an administrative role in the Business Office and Bonnie took as position as a secretary in Admissions. A year later Watson began teaching in the Business Department, serving as a professor for 28 years, 20 of those years as department chair. Watson earned a master's degree in Business Administration from Washington University in 1957 and Greenville College bestowed on him an honorary doctorate of Public Service in 1984.

Following his tenure in the Business Department, Watson worked in the Advancement Office with responsibilities in fundraising and planned giving, a position he held for over 15 years. All totaled, Watson served this institution for 45 years before his retirement in 1996. After her children started school, Bonnie continued to provide secretarial assistance in Physical Education and Music for over 20 years.

Greenville College has recognized Watson and Bonnie Tidball with various college honors including the Parents' Cabinet Parent's Award in 1984, the alumni Loyalty Award in 1999 and the Minshall Servant Leadership Award in 2000. "I don't think there have been any other GC employees or professors who have touched as many students over the course of their lifetime than Watson and Bonnie," Alex Schmidt, director of Alumni Relations, said of the pair. "Even today they remain an active, visible part of the community."

Informally, the Tidball Alumni House will serve as a place for alumni to relax and check in when they return to campus for Homecoming Weekend in the fall, Alumni Reunion Weekend in the summer, and similar events. After the first phase of renovations is complete, the lower level will be available for meeting and reception space. The second phase of renovations will transform the upper level of the home into suites that will be available for use on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The Tidball Alumni House will also connect current students to alumni. Schmidt plans to host alumni colloquiums at the Tidball Alumni House to encourage student-alumni interaction and mentoring. The house will also provide a physical representation of the alumni body to the campus community and will demonstrate a greater sense of alumni activity and support of the institution.

The concept for the house arose from the question, "What can Greenville College do for its alums?" Alumni support the institution by providing funds, mentoring opportunities, and other forms of support to the college and this is a way to give them a permanent home on campus. "The Tidball Alumni House is a way for us to say ‘you matter despite the fact that you're not living here on campus,'" Schmidt states. "What you provide to this institution matters, so you're a part of the everyday presence of the campus."

While the college completes renovations on its campus centerpiece, historic Hogue Hall, English and Spanish faculty will temporarily reside on the second floor of the Tidball Alumni House. Schmidt considers this move advantageous to building a connection between the house and students, "by moving the faculty here, we created a building that is now part of the mainstream of administrative buildings."

The Watson and Bonnie Tidball Alumni House and Welcome Center is made possible by generous donations from family members following in the giving footsteps of the honorees. Watson and Bonnie's consistent financial support of Greenville College continues through the gifts of their children.