May 2007 Development Newsletter

Article Body: The Graceland campus participated in the national day of mourning for the tragedy that took place at Virginia Tech. The photo shows students, faculty and staff gathered for a moment of silence to commemorate the victims, family and friends. GU Campus Minister Dave Heinze offered a special prayer of remembrance.

The Virginia Tech incident is a sad and sobering wake-up call to every college. Because that incident was unfortunately not the first to occur on a college campus, Graceland takes the threat seriously and has emergency procedures in place. Dean of Students Tom Powell heads the campus Crisis Management Team that meets once a month. They make sure the right plans are ready to roll out for as many possible crisis scenarios as possible. In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy, Powell has asked everyone to report anyone who we observe who may seem troubled.

On a more positive note, did you know that the world is really "flat"? Well, with regard to the global market place it is. That was the gist of the 16^th Annual Entrepreneurial Roundtable at Graceland. It was another outstanding event for our deep-thinking students. Once again, teams ran through computer simulations involving business decision making. This year's outstanding group of presenters sure knew what they were talking about. Dee Parsons Grange '83 is a VP for a bio-tech company; Richard Webb founded and leads a company called ProWorld Service Corps, and Steve Graybill '82, is an international consultant specializing in the energy industry. Go "high tech" yourself by clicking on the photo to get the feeling of what this year's roundtable was like.

And who knows, maybe one day you'll be a presenter at the prestigious Roundtable, but first things first, like finishing off your B.A. Business Administration degree that has been stuck in neutral over the years. Good news for folks living in the Blue Springs, Missouri, area. Starting in August, Graceland will be setting up shop at the Blue River Community College campus located just off of I-70 and 7 Highway. It means that you can finally finish your business degree, and better yet, add an area of emphasis in either Management or Entrepreneurship. Here comes the fine print. To qualify for this new Graceland satellite learning experience you must already have approximately two years of college under your belt or a community college AA degree. Think it over and call 1-866-893-6966 to explore the possibilities. And you can do Graceland a favor by spreading the word about this exciting new opportunity.

Exciting is a word that doesn't even come close to describing the spills and thrills of Graceland's SIFE team (Students in Free Enterprise) the past few years. This year's team, sprinkled with members from the 2006 National Championship team, is back from Dallas, Texas, after another outstanding performance. You can read so much more on how things went in the Lone Star State by clicking on SIFE team does us proud AGAIN!

Do you remember "Granny" of TV's The Beverly Hillbillies? In real life she was Irene Ryan, and she loved her profession so much that she made a bequest to set up an annual acting competition. The goal is to promote the careers of college theatre majors. Well get this, Graceland's very own Arber Mehmeti won a regional qualifying performance and found himself competing against 15 other finalists at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Arbër did not win the National Championship trophy but performed extremely well with GU classmate Travis Pfeifer. You can click on the photo to see Arber in action during his college career and get the full story by clicking on Arber Woos 'Em in DC.

And boy did Gracelanders "woo 'em" at the 40^th Annual Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium in Grand Forks, ND. Seniors Dritan Zhuja and Megan Fryer teamed up to take second place in the robot heavyweight division. On top of that, Zhuja was one of the few undergrads picked to present a research paper. We've posted a huge story on the GU Web site that explains what this "techno-tough" competition is all about. Please click on GU Robots rule to learn more. The robotics program at Graceland is part of the Ackerley Computer Science and Technology Center.

Okay, let me see if I can get through this next paragraph. In our Investor Spotlight, we salute 90-year-old William Turner of Mesa, Arizona. Bill attended Graceland in 1943, and was moved by a recent story in the Horizons. To honor his wife, Isabelle Dearborn Turner, Mr. Turner has gifted $55,000 now and bequeathed approximately $400,000 later. He wants to honor the memory of his beloved wife, who graduated from GU in 1942, by establishing two endowments, the first for SIFE and business students and the other for faculty development. According to Mr. Turner, "I had a great career as an insurance broker and while going through my collection of mementos found a lot of things from my Graceland days. I had to borrow money to go, so did Liz, and I just wanted to help other students have an easier time of it. We loved Graceland." What a great personal testimony to the power of the "Graceland Experience."

That brings us to the Matching Challenge Grant that expires at the end of this month. If you've not made your commitment to the construction of a sorely needed, state-of-the-art Science and Technology Center, then time is running out. Take advantage of the 50 cents on the dollar match by acting before May 31. The only catch is that your cash contribution be restricted to the Science Project. Let's make it easy. You can make your gift right now by clicking on my cash gift to the Science Challenge grant, it's that easy! Or you can call 1-800-645-3582 to give by debit/credit card. This would be an outstanding way for you to show your love for Graceland.

Can we talk about how much you love your parents? In our Estate Planning Tip of the Month we ask these questions: Are you listed as personal representative/executor of their will/living trust? Who has health care power of attorney if they become incapacitated? Do you and their doctor have a copy of that document? What duties, restrictions, or limitations exist? Do they have financial power of attorney? What situations might have occurred in their life that would cause them to have to make changes to their will? Will their assets be subject to probate? These are just a few of the issues that you should be thinking about. Please make time to read, Getting parents to work on estate plan. This will be a major eye-opener on why grown children should help their parents and in the long run, themselves, before it's too late. If you have additional estate or gift planning questions, please contact Ed Fredenberg at 1-800-645-3582 or edfreden@graceland.edu. By the way, Ed travels with the entire Development staff and could stop by your home if you'll just give me a holler.

How's this for cool, you can learn all about Homecoming 2007 just by clicking on the link. This just in (okay, we had it in last month's newsletter, too) this year's festivities are set for September 28-30. You'd better believe "The Hive Is Alive" (that's this year's catchy theme.)

Boo-Hoo, Graceland graduation is coming up Sunday, May 20. All of the spring sports teams have wrapped up their schedules. Find out how our gladiators fared by clicking on Yellowjacket Sports Rock.

I have so much more that I could share, but then you wouldn't get any more work done today, so until next month GO GRACELAND!
Event Date: 5/31/2007 9:20 AM