Today, students, faculty and staff, alumni, donors and friends gathered as Brescia University broke ground on The Moore Center following the community chamber breakfast. The ceremony celebrated the first phase of The Campaign for Brescia University: Gateway to Our Second Century, a $10 million capital campaign designed to meet the evolving needs of students and the growing competitive landscape of higher education.
Hartz Construction of Owensboro was announced as the contractor for the project and will be leading the construction for phase one of the campaign.
The Moore Center is named for the Moore Family in honor of Board of Trustees member and donor Joe Moore for his contribution to the campaign. In 2014, the Moore’s pledged a $1 million dollar gift to the campaign, and in November 2015 was responsible for securing an additional $1 million gift from a Nashville foundation, a gift given in Joe’s honor.
Joe graduated cum laude from then Brescia College in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in accounting. He won an award for having the highest accounting GPA in a graduating accounting class. In 2005, Joe was recognized by Brescia University with the Distinguished Alumnus award.
Joe served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council for approximately 10 years before being selected to Board service in February 2005. He is currently serving his third term as Trustee. Joe is the Chair for Campaign Cabinet for the Gateway to Our Second Century Capital Campaign and is the past-chair of the Development Committee of the Board of Trustees.
Joe, a CPA, has more than 30 years of experience in hospital management and operations and recently retired as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Vanguard Health Systems. He now spends his time as a semi-retiree lending his expertise with Martin Ventures, a Nashville based venture capital firm. He was formerly Senior Vice-President, Development at Columbia/Hospital Corporation of America.
In October 2007, Joe and his wife Jeanne also made a $1 million dollar commitment to establish The Moore Presidential Scholars Endowed Scholarship. Joe, a native of Morganfield KY, and his wife Jeanne currently reside in Nashville, Tennessee and have two sons.
The first phase of the capital campaign will include major renovations to The Moore Center, including an open concept living and dining area on the first floor that will include a remodeled cafeteria, as well as a brand new Snack Bar, and Spirit Shop. This floor will also see a new Athletics Hall of Fame and an expanded gymnasium to accommodate nearly 1,000 fans and will feature two full practice courts and a primary playing court. The addition of two new team locker rooms and an enrollment center will also be housed on the first floor of the building. The second floor will see extensive renovations as well, with the addition of a health and wellness center, expanded walking track and updated office space that include a new counseling center.
The second phase will include the construction of a new Signature Building on the corner of 9th and Frederica that will give a face lift, not only to Brescia University’s campus, but to Downtown Owensboro, serving as a Gateway to the thriving downtown area.
This building will feature an innovative digital learning studio, an auditorium that will be available for community use, state-of-the-art classrooms and computer laboratories, and will house the School of Business, the School of the Education and the School of Social Work. Innovation and technology will be hallmarks of this new state-of-the-art facility.
Construction on The Moore Center is scheduled to start this spring soon after the groundbreaking and is slated to be completed in January 2017.
The $10 million Capital Campaign kicked off in October of 2014. To date, Brescia University has secured $9.5 Million in gifts and pledges.