Hopkinsville Community College has received a $400,000 donation — the largest individual gift in the college’s history — to create an endowment benefitting HCC’s Professional and Technical Studies, better known at the PATS Division.
Named for the donors, the Steve and Diane Thomas Endowment Fund will provide money “to expand program offerings as well as purchase supplies, materials, and equipment for the academic programs within the division,” the college said in a press release.
Steve Thomas retired as a truck driver with Agri Alliance in Hopkinsville in 2007. He now spends time bass fishing at Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. Diane Thomas has been an HCC faculty member since 2018. She is an associate professor of accounting and serves as the business program coordinator. She previously worked for Martinrea and Freudenberg Filtrations Technologies.
Diane Thomas said their gift is a “thank you” to a place that has “changed lives, opened doors, and uplifted countless people, including myself.”
HCC President and CEO Dr. Alissa Young added, “This generous contribution will have a transformative impact on our students, faculty, and programs, allowing us to enhance educational opportunities, expand resources, and foster innovative initiatives.”
The donation was announced Friday during a celebratory brunch. It comes with three naming opportunities for campus spaces.
“The Academic Building, affectionately called the Blue Building, will house the Steve and Diane Thomas Student Lounge and the Andy ‘Little Britches’ Thomas Conference Room named to honor a beloved family pet,” the release states. “The Technology Center will house the Steve and Diane Thomas SMART Lab, a reimagined 2-story lab that will have space for a variety of technical programs. The spaces are currently under renovation, but the college will have open houses once construction is complete.”
