Advancing Faith and Learning Together

In 2021, Geneva adopted the 10-year vision that “Geneva College will be known nationally for advancing integration of faith and learning under Christ and His word, preparing students for courageous engagement throughout their life’s work.” Around that time, the Geneva College Foundation began to explore what it would look like to begin a substantial capital campaign to help the institution pursue that vision.  

Since a multimillion-dollar campaign of this caliber was unknown territory for Geneva in recent years, there were unanswered questions about what would be possible. 

With a growing knowledge of the generosity of Geneva’s alumni and friends, and a desire to continue pursuing the idea of a capital campaign, the Geneva College Foundation and Geneva’s leadership boards began to work with another consultant called The Focus Group to conduct a feasibility study. 

Through the feasibility study that consisted of conversation with Geneva’s leadership boards, alumni, and friends of the College, the Foundation started to identify priorities that would serve the vision and resonate with potential givers. Very clearly, those they talked to said they would support projects that bolstered enrollment strength, increased the support of students and faculty through the endowment, and improved Old Main. 

Out of this study, the Advancing Faith and Learning for the 21st Century capital campaign arose. The campaign had three objectives: Supporting students and faculty through endowment growth, building a new welcome center, and transforming Old Main. Ambitious goals of $10 million for the endowment and $11 million for the capital projects were set, and the Foundation began a quiet phase of the campaign, meeting individually with alumni and friends. 

Celebrating God’s Faithfulness and Donor Generosity 

Internal Leadership 

With goals set, the Foundation first approached the Geneva College Board of Trustees, Board of Corporators, and the Board of the Foundation. Encouragingly, significant support for this campaign has come from the leadership boards of the College, together giving or committing more than $9 million. 

Geneva College Foundation President Marvin Dewey, EdD says, “This philanthropic leadership from the boards demonstrates their commitment to the vision of this campaign. Likewise, the faculty and staff of Geneva have committed more than $260,000. And to have that kind of generosity flow from them is just a ‘wow!’ This generosity demonstrates their belief in the importance of this campaign to the future of Geneva College.” 

Endowment Growth 

Geneva’s endowment represents the long-term investment of many contributors in the ministry of education at Geneva. The endowment grows through current annual gifts and legacy gifts (wills and estates). These gifts support student scholarships (every $6 million invested yields $240,000 in scholarship funds annually, or 48 scholarships at $5,000 per student). They also support faculty development ($1 million yields $40,000 annually). 

The response from the Geneva community has been overwhelming. Not only did Geneva hit the $10 million goal, to date supporters have doubled the goal with a total of $20 million in giving and commitments. This show of support for the education that Geneva provides is a testament to the goodness of God and the openhandedness of Geneva’s alumni and friends. These funds play a large role in the stability of the institution for the future. 

The Dwight E. Wagner Welcome Center 

Building a welcome center on campus provides a clear first place to go when visiting Geneva, which has been lacking ever since PA Rt. 18 was re-routed in 2008. Envisioned as a “front porch” for campus, the Dwight E. Wagner Welcome Center will be home to the Offices of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Alumni Relations. It will feature welcoming reception spaces for prospective student families, alumni, and friends who arrive on campus. 

The featured space in the center will be the Joe and Roberta McFarland Gallery, which will include a lofted ceiling and ribbed structural beams in the style of the McCartney Library. This will be a natural space for gatherings and will be where prospective students and their families sit for presentations about the College. 

From the covered porch on the Welcome Center, visitors will enjoy a beautiful view of the southern portion of campus, as well as the Beaver River valley and the City of Beaver Falls. For more information about the structure, visit genevacollegefoundation.org/welcomecenter. 

Serving as an essential component of the culture of vibrant hospitality at Geneva, the Dwight E. Wagner Welcome Center will bolster the already positive momentum in admissions and enrollment we have seen in the past few years. Having a modern, beautiful, welcoming space for prospective students to start their campus visit will set a clear first impression of the culture of hospitality Geneva values so highly.  

The response of giving toward this project was encouraging as well, although a steep rise in inflation saw construction costs rise considerably after initial estimates. Originally in the $4-6 million range, the final cost of construction ended at $8.4 million. However, alumni and friends rose to the occasion, and thanks to a lead matching gift from Dwight Wagner ’68 and tremendous generosity from other givers as well, the project is now fully funded. 

Construction on the building is now underway, with an estimated completion date in late 2026. For construction updates, as well as timelapse imagery of the project, visit genevacollegefoundation.org/construction-updates 

Restoring Old Main 

Nearly every student who has attended Geneva has taken a class in Old Main. An icon of the campus, Old Main sits both physically and ideologically at the center of the liberal arts education provided by Geneva.  

The seal of the College inlaid as a compass in the floor at the center of the building positions Geneva as pro Christo et Patria, and the open Bible at the heart of the seal stands as a reminder that everything the College does is built upon Christ and His word.  

“The Lord Jesus Christ is true north. And the Scriptures are the map,” President Calvin Troup, PhD says. “When you walk into Old Main, Old Main tells you what Geneva is about.” 

And yet the building is in several ways ill-equipped to serve the needs of our students and community. The final phase of the capital campaign aims to position Old Main as an accessible, hospitable, and functional hub of the ministry of education for generations into the future. 

The first priority of this renovation is accessibility. Currently without an elevator, Old Main’s second and third stories are unavailable to a significant portion of the community. “For people like past Geneva President Jack White, at the end of his life he had a difficult time getting up to the chapel that bears his name,” says Dewey. “We have students who are in wheelchairs, and we’ve had a student with cerebral palsy. So we want to address accessibility with the elevator.” 

An elevator will serve many different members of the community, from student-athletes with sport-related injuries to individuals in the Beaver Falls area who want to attend a performance in John White Chapel.  

In addition to an elevator, the project will also include installing a new zero-clearance entrance on the side of Old Main that faces the Student Center. This will give ground-level access to the elevator and entire building. 

“The restrooms in Old Main likely have not been updated since many of our alumni were students,” says Dewey. For instance, the only men’s restroom in the building is in the basement. Renovation plans include installing accessible restrooms on every floor of the building. 

Another priority of the renovation is fire safety, which will be addressed with the installation of a sprinkler system. Early in his tenure, President Troup was approached by a fire marshal for Beaver Falls, who told him that if a fire were to break out in Old Main, there was no chance that the fire department would arrive in time to save the structure, due to its old wooden construction and lack of fire suppression technology. Early on this was identified as a necessary and wise addition to a renovation project. 

Finally, a major component of Old Main’s renovation will be a reimagining of John White Chapel into a state-of-the-art performance venue. This will include expanding the stage, installing permanent lighting, updating the seating for accessibility and comfort, and improving the acoustics of the space. To assist in the design of the space, the College has worked with MCF Architecture, who were responsible for such notable Pittsburgh performance spaces as Heinz Hall and the Benedum Center.  

The Old Main renovation will take place after the completion of the Dwight E. Wagner Welcome Center. With the Welcome Center in place, administrative offices from the lower level of Alexandar Hall will be able to move in. This will in turn make way for the Offices of the President, Registrar, Provost, and other administrators to move to Alexandar Hall from Old Main. 

A specific benefit of the restoration and renovation will be that every previous classroom space that has been made into administrative office space over the years will now be returned to classroom use. With many of the core classes (Bible, humanities, political science, etc.) from Geneva’s curriculum meeting in Old Main, the building will now feature even more prominently at the heart of the ministry of education Geneva provides. 

As with the other projects, giving toward Old Main has been encouraging. With a total goal of $7.8 million, only $1.6 million remained at the start of the public phase of the campaign. 

The Public Phase 

At Homecoming in October 2025, the Geneva College Foundation officially transitioned the campaign into the public phase, announcing the final goal of $1.6 million by December 31, 2025. In total, after adjustments for inflation and the success of the endowment growth, alumni and friends have given or committed $34.6 million of the $36.2 million total campaign goal. 

“To this date we have met individually with alumni and friends and invited them to be a part of the campaign,” says Dewey. “We can’t do that for all 25,000 alumni. So, as we enter the public phase we are inviting everybody to participate in a way that God has blessed them within their financial situation.” 

The success of the campaign thus far is a testament to a shared vision of faithfulness and generosity of generations of givers throughout Geneva’s history. 

“What kind of vision has God given for you, in terms of wanting to see the ministry of education continue for a long time longer than many of us will be alive?” says Troup. “We have blessings — buildings we’ve studied in, places we’ve walked, fields on which we’ve competed, places we’ve had opportunities to sing and perform — that were given to us by previous generations. And all we want to do is to invite you, at a very important time in the College’s life, to participate at whatever level the Lord has prospered you and consider making a gift to complete the campaign work as we look to the future and see what else the Lord might do in coming years.”

By Caleb McCracken ‘16

To learn more about Geneva's Advancing Faith and Learning campaign and join the mission, visit genevacollegefoundation.org/forthis.

Originally published in the Geneva Magazine Winter 2025