Spalding University announced Wednesday, Sept. 5, that it has reached a milestone in its ongoing, largest-ever capital fundraising campaign: surpassing $30 million in total contributions since 2014. They have supported new construction projects, facility improvements and academic and scholarship programs that broadly impact campus and student life.

The $30.4 million raised to date is a record for a Spalding campaign, and it far outpaces the original fundraising goals – $20 million by 2020 – set by the university’s board of trustees when it voted to launch the campaign four years ago. The goal was officially upped to $30 million in 2016.

“We are extremely grateful for the individuals and organizations who have stepped forward in support of our campaign and the mission and progress of Spalding,” Chief Advancement Officer Bert Griffin said. “We’ve made improvements all over campus and have not used any tuition dollars to make it happen.”

Spalding President Tori Murden McClure added: “Through this campaign, we have provided our students and the community with more resources and services while making our campus greener and more beautiful. We are grateful to our many partners who are helping us meet the needs of the times and change our community for the better.”

Some highlights of the $30 million capital campaign:

● Nearly $11 million in student scholarships and fieldwork stipends have been or will be distributed by way of the campaign, including more than $4 million in federal grants for clinical psychology and social work students from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

● More than $7 million has been donated or pledged in support of a greening initiative that has beautified the 23-acre downtown campus. Completed projects include the Mother Catherine Spalding Square green space on West Breckenridge Street between South Third and South Fourth and 2.2-acre Trager Park, which, in partnership with Louisville Gas and Electric Company and the Trager Family Foundation, opened last fall at the corner of South Second and West Kentucky. The Trager Park site was formerly an unused asphalt lot.

Ongoing outdoor projects are the seven-acre athletic fields complex between South Eighth and South Ninth streets that will be the home of Spalding’s NCAA Division III softball and soccer teams, and the Contemplative Garden at Spalding University, which will be a meditation space at 828 S. Fourth St. that is designed to honor Trappist Monk Thomas Merton and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Thanks to a recent anonymous $500,000 challenge grant, installation of the playing surfaces at the fields complex is expected to begin this fall, and it could be ready for competition by late spring 2019.

FROM WHAS: Spalding works to build Ninth Street ‘Field of Dreams’

● Kosair Charities has contributed more than $1.2 million to Spalding in support of the Kosair Charities Enabling Technologies of Kentuckiana (enTECH) assistive-technology resource center, the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy and the Spalding School of Nursing.

● A $500,000 challenge grant from the James Graham Brown Foundation has helped raise $1 million to develop programs focused on restorative justice and restorative practices as well as Spalding’s Center for Behavioral Health.

● Nearly $1 million was raised to renovate the lower level of the Columbia Gym into a student fitness center and lounge.

● Other facilities that have undergone major improvements and modern updates are the Republic Bank Academic Center, which is the home of Spalding’s nursing and social work programs; the Spalding Library; the historic Tompkins-Buchanan-Rankin Mansion; and the Egan Leadership Center Lectorium.

Get meaningful holiday gifts and support the students of your favorite university at the same time?! What a deal.

It can be a reality tonight (Monday, Dec. 4) from 6 to 8 p.m. at during the Community Shopping Night at Just Creations, 2722 Frankfort Avenue. A portion of all sales will go toward the Spalding Study Abroad in Ireland program.

Global education is an appropriate cause to be associated with Just Creations, which is a Fair Trade nonprofit organization that provides marketing assistance to low-income artisans and farmers throughout the developing world. Your purchase of gifts, household items, clothing, jewelry, and food helps to provide a fair wage for the artisans and enables them to pay for food, education, health care and housing.

It’s loaded with cool, one-of-kind items, and you can feel good about yourself when you buy it, knowing you’re making a difference.

We’ll see you there.

Spalding University unveiled a major component of its greening initiative on Nov. 3 with the dedication ceremony of 2.2-acre Trager Park, a grassy recreational space at the corner of South Second and West Kentucky streets that has been repurposed from an unused pad of asphalt.

A product of the philanthropy of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and the Trager Family Foundation, Trager Park will offer students and neighbors space for intramural sports and recreation while beautifying the South of Broadway (SoBro) neighborhood and providing a signature entrance for the southeast corner of Spalding’s campus. The park will also help diminish the urban heat island effect in the area.

“Through partnerships with community stewards like LG&E and the Trager Family Foundation, Spalding is able to expand its campus and opportunities for students while improving the quality of life of our neighbors and helping the environment,” Spalding President Tori Murden McClure said. “The new park will also become, literally, a cornerstone of the university, providing a lovely, usable green space that welcomes the community to our campus.”

Construction, which began in early summer, included the removal of about 150 asphalt parking spaces. Approximately 100 trees will be planted at Trager Park next spring.

“The beauty of what’s been created here is the positive impact and forward momentum it represents for multiple efforts within our community,” LG&E President and Chief Operating Officer Paul W. Thompson said. “Partnering on projects like this, that benefit the community in so many ways, is important to our company, which is what made this an ideal collaboration for us from the very beginning.”

The park is named in honor of Bernard Trager, the founder of Republic Bank, and his wife, Jean, thanks to a gift from their family in support of Spalding’s greening efforts.

“Trager Park meets all the criteria of what the Trager Family Foundation’s core mission is,” said Steve Trager, Bernard and Jean’s son who is Republic Bank’s chairman and chief executive officer. “It allows us to be associated with a great organization like Spalding, helps beautify our community and provides functional outdoor space not only for the students of the university but for all residents who live in and around the SoBro neighborhood. Involvement in this project was an absolute no-brainer.”

The creation of Trager Park has multiple environmental benefits, according to the Louisville Metro Office of Sustainability. By decreasing some of the 9 million square feet of impervious surface in SoBro taken up by parking lots and other infrastructure, the park will contribute to reducing surface temperatures and the amount of water that enters the stormwater system. After the trees are planted and mature, the park will increase the tree canopy of a neighborhood that currently has only a 9 percent canopy (about 21 acres), which is below the 15 percent recommended for central business districts by American Forests.

“We are grateful for Spalding’s leadership in converting an impervious surface to green space, especially in the SoBro neighborhood,” Louisville Metro Director of Sustainability Maria Koetter said. “Replacing concrete with grass and trees also lowers air and surface temperatures and creates a healthier environment and healthier citizens. In addition to beautifying the block, this investment will reduce the amount of water entering the stormwater system during rain events. We look forward to more residents, businesses and nonprofits following Spalding’s lead.”

Trager Park is the latest piece in Spalding’s ongoing greening initiative. In 2013, the university dedicated the Mother Catherine Spalding Square green space on West Breckinridge Street between South Third and South Fourth. Spalding also plans to construct an athletic fields complex, which will be the home of its softball and soccer teams, by repurposing a tract of more than seven acres between South Eighth and South Ninth. Fundraising for the fields project is ongoing.