Rosemary Allen was inaugurated as the 26th president of Georgetown College in January 2022, becoming the first woman to serve as president in the college’s nearly 200-year history. Allen is a longtime member of the Georgetown College community, beginning as a member of the English faculty for her first 20 years at the college. In 2004, she broke new ground by becoming the first woman to serve as Chief Academic Officer when she was named Provost.
This year, Georgetown College successfully completed a targeted, yearlong fundraising campaign, raising $28 million to pay off its long-term bond debt. This achievement frees the institution to develop new programs and invest in its future. A celebration is planned for homecoming in October, when the college will host donors on campus and dedicate a plaque in front of the administration building recognizing their contributions.
“This is a genuinely transformative moment for the college,” Allen said. Business Lexington spoke with Allen about the campaign and priorities for the small liberal arts college and its roughly 1,500 students.
What can you tell us about the fundraising campaign and how it benefits the college?
Georgetown College is nearly 200 years old, and over that time, we’ve accumulated a significant amount of debt, particularly for infrastructure developed in the late 20th century. This debt has been a burden, so we decided to improve the college’s financial standing by eliminating it. Through a one-year fundraising campaign, we raised a little over $28 million and paid off all of our long-term debt.
I’ve been at the college for 40 years, giving me a broad perspective on the burdens we’ve faced. Our alumni and donors have long been concerned about our inability to escape this financial “ball and chain.” We needed to reimagine the future of Georgetown College—not always looking backward at what the struggles of the past have been but looking forward to future opportunities.
Our campaign had a very small footprint. We did not go public but instead directed it specifically at trustees and alumni who had the capacity to make significant gifts. This campaign was not about raising a million small donations. It was 46 major gifts.
I imagine operating a college is similar to running a large business.
It is, and like any business, if you’re stuck with the burden of legacy debt you don’t have the freedom to reinvest income into future growth. Clearing this debt was essential to maintaining our capacity to respond to market changes and ensure organizational vitality.
The largest single gift of $16 million came from Robert N. Wilson ’62, former vice chairman of Johnson & Johnson, who was instrumental in supporting this idea. He emphasized the need to free up capacity to do what we know we need to do—to grow. Constantly solving legacy problems can create stasis, whereas clearing debt allows us to focus on improvement.
What are some of the ongoing priorities for the college?
In the short term, our primary focus is on growing and changing some of our academic programs and diversifying what we do as a liberal arts college to make sure that we maintain a level of relevance for a changing demographic.
It’s not surprising that student priorities are realigning with workforce needs. There is a huge demand in healthcare and healthcare support, and we are working to expand both our undergraduate and graduate programs in these areas, including physical and mental health.
At the graduate level, we plan to include programs such as physical therapy, physician assistant studies, clinical mental health counseling, and possibly clinical social work. These helping professions are in demand and also align with the institutional mission of Georgetown College, which has its roots in Christian service.
Are a lot of your students from Scott County?
We have a large footprint in Scott County, with over 200 current students from the area. Our alumni also have a record of service to the county. Our mayor, county judge executive, the superintendent of schools, and several judges are all Georgetown College graduates. Some of them came from outside of Scott County and moved here and stayed here as a result of their association with the college.
Is online or remote learning a growing part of the curriculum?
Definitely. It’s become almost the sole means of delivery for our graduate program in education. We started an online master’s program 25 years ago. We also plan to implement a graduate program in clinical mental health counseling that’s primarily online. Online learning is often the best option for working adults.
Back to the fundraising campaign, how did you present the need to potential donors?
Small colleges across the nation are at risk right now. It’s a delicate time for our business model. I think some colleges facing economic crises tend to market fear and try to raise donations based on the idea of saving the college, but that’s not the way to inspire a vision for the future.
In marketing our fundraising campaign, we wanted to base our message in hope. We looked for ways to convince our donors that there is a real possibility for growth for the college if we could just overcome this one hurdle that had been holding us back.
We drew inspiration from the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” which includes a line about “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” We raised funds based on this concept, emphasizing the need to build strength today to reach our hopeful vision for tomorrow.
Small colleges are wonderful learning laboratories for life, where students can discover themselves and develop into the people they will become. Operating a college is also expensive, of course, because it takes so many personnel to deliver that kind of personal attention. But we’ve learned how to exist frugally and remain focused on what’s important, which are the people.