Virginia Tech Alumni Association News - Fall 2002
The Alumni and Conference Center Campaign
In Its Final Months
"We are almost there!"
In the coming months, the campaign for the new Alumni and Conference Center welcomes broad participation by alumni. Alumni are being encouraged to make a gift or pledge to be included in the "Register of Donors" that will be on display in the new center. Gifts ranging between $1,000 and $24,999 will be recognized additionally by personally inscribed terrace paving stones on the South side of the Alumni Center (see illustration on facing page). Pledges may extend over a five-year period for fulfillment.
The campaign's target is $16.2 million. As of September, just over $13 million has been committed. Gifts from individual donors and certain classes have boosted the total in recent months to its current level. Major leadership gifts were made in the spring by three individuals to significantly advance the campaign closer to its goal. President Charles Steger announced the three honorees during a special luncheon held in conjunction with the April 27th meeting of the Alumni Board of Directors.
He recognized William B. Holtzman '59, William E. Skelton '40, and Margaret Groseclose Skelton (an honorary alumna of the university) for their generous support of the campaign. In recognition of their support, the Alumni Center will be named the "Holtzman Alumni Center" and the adjoining Conference Center will be named the "Skelton Conference Center." Steger commended them at the announcement saying "Today we are recognizing three alumni who have used their energy, their talents, and their financial resources for the betterment of others. They have looked beyond themselves - and the events and times that have circumscribed their lives - to make contributions of permanence and value."
Bill Holtzman is president and founder of Holtzman Oil Corporation in Mt. Jackson, Virginia. He has been supportive of many areas at Virginia Tech, including the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund and Virginia Center for Civil War Studies.
Bill Skelton served as director and dean of Extension, and his wife, Peggy, served on the faculty and was director of the Cooperative Extension Family Resource Program in the College of Human Resources and Education. They are both retired. They likewise have generously supported the university through their academic colleges, endowed athletic scholarships, and the Alumni Association. Bill is a past president and, now, honorary director of the Alumni Board, and chairs both the campaign for the new Alumni and Conference Center and its Facilities Planning Committee.