Carol Jones donates $500K to OTC

Last edited 3:30 p.m., Nov, 19, 2010

Springfield businesswoman Carol Jones has given the Ozarks Technical Community College's fundraising arm $500,000, according to an OTC news release.

The donation is split into two $250,000 gifts to the foundation. One will fund scholarships for disadvantaged women, and the other will support the newly named Carol Jones Writing Center.

"Ms. Jones has focused her gifts in areas that will most directly benefit the students, and we are pleased to express our thanks  through the dedication of the Carol Jones Writing Center," OTC President Hal Higdon said in the release.

Dana Logsdon Mason, coordinator of public information, said the writing center, which already existed on campus, was given the name change to reflect the donation, which she said will enhance the center's capabilities.

Joel Doepker, director of communications and marketing, said the $250,000 for the writing center was placed a in a trust, to be granted for use by the OTC Foundation upon Jones' death. He said the foundation has earmarked the fund for use by the writing center.

Specific uses of the fund have not yet been determined.

OTC Foundation Executive Director Cliff Davis noted in the news release the importance of the gifts for current and future students.

“It is resources like the writing center, as well as scholarships, that provide that extra help students often need to complete their education,” he said in the release.

Jones founded Carol Jones Realtors in 1983 and retired in 2008. She is a founding board member of the OTC Foundation and remains active in the community through the Carol Jones Recovery Center for Women, a drug and alcohol treatment center, the release said.[[In-content Ad]]