Hopkinsville Community College staff and faculty celebrated the establishment of the Steve and Diane Thomas Endowment Fund after receiving the largest individual donation in the institution’s history on Friday.
HCC President Alissa Young shared that the endowment was established with a $400,000 donation from Steve and Diane Thomas. Funds from the endowment will go toward expanding programs and purchasing supplies and equipment for courses in the Professional and Technical Studies Division.
Donations to the college over $50,000 are eligible to be matched through the Kentucky Community and Technical College Match Program, so over time Young says the Thomas’ gift will be doubled.
Young thanked the pair for their donation and shared that they are not strangers to the college. Diane Thomas is a member of the college’s accounting faculty and her husband Steve Thomas is a retired truck driver with Agri Alliance.
To honor the pair’s donation, multiple spaces across the campus are set to be named after them. In the Academic Building, they will have the Steve and Diane Student Lounge and the Andy “Little Britches” Thomas Conference Room. Then in the Technical Building, the Steve and Diane Thomas SMART Lab is also under renovation.
Young read some remarks from Diane Thomas and says she describes the gift as a thank you to a place that has changed lives and lifted up countless people. Following the presentation Diane Thomas shared that the college is a large part of her life and finds it imperative to support students set to enter the workforce.
Diane and Steve Thomas also encourage the community to contribute to the college’s growth.
