wfn.org | Mabee Challenge Grant Issued To Phillips Theological

["Communication Ministries" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

Seminary
Date:  April 24, 2002
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
E-mail: news@cm.disciples.org
Web: http://www.disciples.org

02a-34

Contact: Don Lanier, Phillips Theological Seminary      
4242 S. Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK   74145
(918) 610-8303, dlanier@ptsadmin.com

TULSA, Okla. -- The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation has
issued a $600,000 challenge grant to help Phillips
Theological Seminary establish new campus facilities in
Tulsa.  PTS will be awarded the grant provided the school
raises $9,125,000 from other donors by March 31, 2003.

Thus far, the seminary has received $7,700,000 in gifts and
pledges from other donors, leaving $1,425,000 to be raised
in the next twelve months. If successful, and upon receipt
of the $600,000 Mabee grant, PTS will have attained its
total $9,725,000 Pursuing the Vision capital campaign goal.
The funds will create a spacious campus, endow the
maintenance of the new campus, and add to the seminary's
scholarship endowment.

"We are deeply grateful for the support of The Mabee
Foundation in the building component of our project. This
challenge grant not only represents a major step forward in
our plans but it will also inspire others to invest in the
preparation of religious and community leaders," said
William Tabbernee, PTS president.

He added, "A visionary program like ours needs generous
gifts, because the task of providing future leaders for
church and society is enormous. With the help of The Mabee
Foundation and of others who will be challenged by this
grant to make gifts, PTS will have a campus designed for
excellence in learning, worthy of our dedicated students
and outstanding faculty."

The seminary will be located on 7.5 acres near Tulsa
International Airport. The property and 57,000 square feet
of office space are a donation from the QuikTrip
Corporation.  Remodeling of the buildings will begin this
fall as QuikTrip moves to new headquarters of its own in
east Tulsa.

The seminary's new facilities will include an extensive
library, chapel, numerous classrooms equipped for computer
learning, two "smart" classrooms designed for distance
learning linking students in other communities, a
meditation garden and labyrinth, student commons, a
conference center, and offices.

Some PTS administrative staff will occupy the new campus
beginning in August of this year. Faculty, academic staff,
and students will join them during the summer of 2003 when
renovations have been completed. In the fall semester of
2003, the whole seminary community will be in the same
location for the first time since 1986. At that time, the
school was in Enid, Okla., and still part of Phillips
University. A second PTS campus was opened at The
University of Tulsa in 1986. In 1997, the PTS board decided
to combine the Enid and Tulsa campuses.  The seminary
completed its relocation to Tulsa in 1999, but it still has
no facility of its own.

The faculty is currently housed in temporary offices on the
TU campus. Classes are taught at the University and various
nearby churches. The administrative staff is at another
location several miles away.

Tabbernee said, "At last we will all be together in a home
of our own. While a sense of community has remained
amazingly high through these past sixteen years, we believe
the new campus with its exceptional educational advantages
will inaugurate a new era for us."

The Mabee Foundation was founded in 1948 by J.E. and L.E.
Mabee, who were successful in the oil business. A major
objective of the Foundation is to assist religious,
charitable, and educational organizations in Oklahoma and
contiguous states with their building projects. It is
currently one of the largest supporters of higher education
in the nation, funding grants to non-profit, tax exempt,
non-tax supported, established institutions which combine
sound character and stability with progressive purpose.
	
                                               -- 30 --

Disciples News Service releases are available at
http://www.disciples.org/dns/index.htm 
or you can sign up to receive them by e-mail at 
http://www.disciples.org/cm/email.htm