The Transplanting of the Ivy & Alumni Thriving
NOTE: This is not a fundraising appeal. 🙂 Stay with me … For the last five years, GU has invited our supporters to “rise up” in financial ways that have added deep and wide value to our campus and our community. The initial Rise Up campaign ($30M private phase, announced 2019) and Rise Up: There’s More ($60M public phase, announced 2023) have served to successfully advance the Greenville legacy in this generation of students. In the same way that Ezra led the retuning Israelite exiles to rebuild the temple, many of you—our GU alumni and friends—have contributed to a “rebuilding” of our campus (100 projects in 1000 days to be exact-ish 🙂). The deep and wide implications for students and faculty, athletes and coaches, administration and alumni have only begun to rise up in current and future endeavors to educate students for lives of character and service.
Donations to the Rise Up campaign, which recently surpassed $60 million 🎉 on their way to a $100 million goal for Rise Up 2030 (watch for more in the Spring RECORD, coming to your mailbox in May!), have tilled the soil for deep root growth and wide fruit production. These gifts (and gifts in kind) continue to stabilize and strengthen this lush part of God’s Kingdom that is Greenville University.
We are sharper (University Hall & Kaufmann Plaza, Burritt Hall upgrades), smarter (SMART Center, Goldfarb School of Nursing BSN partnership, Equine Program, Contemporary Music Center, Experience First curriculum, Climb Experience), and stronger (Stephens Field House, Smith Museum, Trager Training Center, Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics), because of donor investments in the first two phases of this campaign. In this work of educating students to inspire, influence and impact our culture, GU continues to provide students with an innovative education and meaningful degree, an immersive resume of character-forming experiences, and a vast, interconnected personal and professional network for Kingdom service. It is a deep and wide work we do here, as you, our GU alumni (and friends) know full well.
But how do these Rise Up campaign strategies strengthen GU Alumni Relations activities in ways that reconnect, renew and revitalize our alumni community?
- First, we seek innovative engagement with our alumni, reconnecting you with the nutrient-rich Greenville soil of faith and learning as we continue to encourage our community spiritually (including this monthly blog).
- Second, we facilitate immersive experiences—in person, on campus and online—designed to equip our “orange souls" 🧡, emotionally and relationally, for a renewed sense of personal calling and community collaboration. (See last month's "A View of GU: Orange Souls & Alumni Goals.")
- Third, we mobilize our interconnected network of alumni and friends for the purpose of revitalizing vocational empowerment. (Watch for more on these strategic plans in next month’s “A View of GU.”)
It’s this interconnected "network"—what Seedbed founder and “Wake Up Call” author, John David Walt, refers to as, “a net that works”—that has captivated my imagination the last few months. The GU Alumni Association, led globally by our Alumni Board and advanced regionally through the investments of our Alumni Ambassadors, "still abides" and ever guides our growing GU alumni community.
Orange and black may be our official school colors (thus, the proliferation of orange souls around the world 😁) but the extended GU community embodies a vibrant, flourishing net of transplanted green ivy. 🌿 What some consider bookend ceremonies—New Student Orientation “Planting of the Ivy” and “Ivy Cutting” Commencement traditions—I put forth as two key rhythms in a series of three movements … the Planting of the Ivy, Ivy Cutting, and the Transplanting of the Ivy in every place that God positions GU alumni throughout the world. “Though from here our paths may sever and we distant roam,” each newly minted alum ventures out into the world with a freshly cut ivy sprig in hand looking for their next place to reroot and contribute to the thriving, life-transforming Greenville legacy.
Stories of alumni efficacy at home and at work reveal how our GC alumni effectively inspire, influence and impact their families, churches and communities in ways that advance the Kingdom of God on this earth … like lush green vines weaving new life and entwining new connections into every nook and cranny of this earth. I want to be a part of this net that works. I hope you do too.
In March, I’ll summarize specific plans for the future of GU Alumni Relations. In May, the Spring RECORD will lay out the final phase of the Rise Up campaign with Rise Up 2030 goals and objectives. Watch for this issue in your mailbox! Keep praying. Keep watching. And keep thanking God with us for the good work He continues to do in the lives of GU students, faculty and staff and amongst our GU alumni and friends. 🧡🐾🌿
View GU "For the RECORD" - February 2025 Enewsletter
