I’d like to introduce you to a very special member of our Blue Raider family: Mr. Andrew Woodfin Miller – “Woody” to many of you. He has been a loyal and generous supporter of MTSU. Not one to seek attention, Woody has been a donor to our campus for more than 30 years.

I’ll never forget the first time I had the opportunity to meet Woody and to see just how important MTSU was to him.

It was during my first year as President and we were in the latter stages of securing the matching funds required to begin the Paul W. Martin Honors College Building project.

In talking with Woody, I explained just how important this project was and what it would mean to the University to have this facility on our campus.

He told me to let him know what we needed to reach the goal and he would provide the difference…whatever that amount was….

Without hesitation he agreed to provide $250,000 in support.

Along with the gift came a discussion that has stuck with me to this day.

Back in 2002, Woody told me that he loved the University and wanted to make a difference.

He told me then that the time would come when he would make a gift that would truly transform the University.

Over the years we have stayed in contact and I’ve kept him informed of the many things that are happening on our campus.

Late last year, he and I began to seriously discuss what this campaign was all about and how committed we were to using this effort to move MTSU to a new level of success.

As part of our conversations, we began to discuss the opportunity we had to elevate our academic programs to the level of a nationally prominence in their field.

Woody was immediately interested and we began a dialog on how he could help.

He wanted to be sure that his gift would make a difference and that we were as committed as he was to the success of this program.

Our conversations continued and we worked together to begin laying out what we needed to be successful.

We’re still working on some of the final details, but he has committed in writing, through a financial gift agreement, that he was confident in our plan

and that he would make the significant investment we talked about 10 years ago – a gift that would help transform our university.

It was my pleasure to announce on April 13 that Woody has committed to providing the largest, outright gift in the history of the University – a gift of $10 million to his alma mater.

His gift will be used to enhance the quality of academic programs at MTSU and we believe lay the foundation for sustained success and acclaim for this institution.