The Savannah Technical College Foundation announced a $10 million major gifts campaign to support Savannah Technical College. The campaign has raised $4.4 million to date through early corporate commitments.

“State funding allows us to do important work, but does not allow for the extras that provide for excellence,” said STC President Dr. Kathy Love. “Our students and community deserve excellence, and Savannah Technical College stands ready to meet that call. We know it will be private investment that will provide the margin of excellence to allow Savannah Technical College to meet the promise of its future.”

The Campaign, “Where Excellence Meets Opportunity” showcases the College’s excellence in instruction through opportunities it provides students. The College offers opportunity based on accessible, valuable career education in more than 150 different programs. Its excellence has been earned through statewide and national recognition in many key areas, as one of Georgia’s top performing technical colleges in 2014 and the best in the state the year before. STC faculty have also been recognized beyond state borders as leaders in their fields. 

“In my opinion, Savannah Tech is probably the greatest asset this community has,” said Dick Eckburg, STC benefactor and one of the campaign’s volunteer chairmen. “People from all ages, all walks of life go to Savannah Tech to learn skills so they can become a contributing member of society. Not only do they learn skills, but they also learn the dignity of work. Graduates are helping to make our society a better place.”

The campaign is focused on five key areas: precision manufacturing, health sciences, culinary arts and heritage tourism, technology and student support. The precision manufacturing priority will expand capacity and instructional offerings at the Savannah, Effingham and Liberty campuses. For the health sciences, the College’s goal is to bring the associate degree of nursing program to the Coastal Georgia community, expand associate degree offerings at the Savannah Campus and build biology and chemistry labs at the Effingham and Liberty campuses. The College plans to bring world-class culinary arts instruction to the downtown Savannah tourist/business district along with a restaurant and bakery that students will run as a part of their instructional program to support culinary arts and heritage tourism. Expanding the capacity for technology across the campuses in classrooms and labs; improving distance learning technology and incorporating an e-reader loan program are part of the technology area. The College would like to support students by providing additional scholarship support and critical gap funding for students in need.

“We take our commitment to excellence very seriously,” said Love. “Our promise to our students is to deliver state of the art instruction taught by skilled, caring professionals dedicated to sharing their knowledge and expertise to guide the next generation of nurses, welders, accountants, preservationists, chefs, dental hygienists and aircraft mechanics.”

The campaign is led by the Savannah Technical College Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that raises funds to support Savannah Technical College.