Badgett Continues Monumental Support of Madisonville Community College
MADISONVILLE, Ky.--Madisonville Community College President Dr. Judy Rhoads and Fulfilling the Promise Campaign Chair Steve Cox have announced that Brown Badgett Sr, a long-time western Kentucky business leader, has provided an additional gift of $1 million to the Fulfilling the Promise Campaign.
A member of the Madisonville College Foundation and Lead Gifts Chairman of the college's Partners in Progress Campaign of the mid 1990s, Badgett has already designated a $1.2 million irrevocable insurance gift to MCC--a naming level gift that was announced statewide in November 2004. His total private commitments to Madisonville Community College (since 1990) now exceed $2.5 million and he is one of the all-time lead supporters of the entire Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
The new $1 million gift is designated to the planned technology building that bears his name. The Brown Badgett, Sr. Energy and Advanced Technology Center has been funded by the Kentucky General Assembly, and construction of the 69,000 - 71,000 square foot facility is scheduled to begin in March 2007. Plans call for the Badgett Center to be completed in late Fall 2008. A formal ground breaking will be scheduled in March or April 2007.
In making the new gift, Badgett stressed that the facility--and the college in general--will train workers and serve industries that are close to his heart and were an integral part of his entrepreneurial career in western Kentucky.
"With the coal mining industry seeing renewed vigor, and the need for trained miners to meet energy needs, the Advanced Technology Center is vital to the economic interest of Muhlenberg, Hopkins, and Webster Counties," he said. "I am delighted that this facility will also provide training space for applied technology students and workforce development that will serve all of our local manufacturers. Our whole economic community will benefit, and I wanted to make sure we had the necessary infrastructure to be successful."
Chairman Cox was obviously elated with the campaign success, stressing that Badgett had already satisfied the naming requirement for the new Technology Center.
"Brown, as with many other educational and athletic endeavors around Hopkins County wanted to ensure success of the entire project--thus this wonderful new gift," Cox said. "The Badgett Center will offer a whole new dimension of training and education opportunities for MCC students, and our entire community and region will benefit. An important thing is remember is that Mr. Badgett has supported the college consistently with scholarships and public advocacy for three decades. This latest gift is a continuation of his lifetime of support to all of Hopkins County."
Badgett's prior giving to MCC includes major gifts to the Joe C. Davis Science Building and the Muhlenberg County Campus. He has also committed private resources to provide advocacy and outreach for all areas of college programming. His most recent gift now brings the Fulfilling the Promise campaign pledge total at Madisonville to over $8 million. Included in this total are 12 gifts of at least $100,000.
