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Evangel dedicates Vetter Center for Social Enterprise

Published on Oct 31, 2013 by Paul K. Logsdon

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Evangel University dedicated its new Vetter Center for Social Enterprise, located on the first floor of Zimmerman Hall, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013.

The center is the focal point of Evangel’s Department of Business. It is designed as a gathering place for business students, especially those enrolled in the new Nonprofit Business & Social Enterprise major.

The space was named for Jack and Eldora Vetter, who funded the new major with a $150,000 grant from the Vetter Foundation, based in Omaha, Nebraska.

The couple founded Vetter Health Services, a for-profit group of more than 30 nursing homes and retirement living facilities in a five-state region of the Midwest — including Creekside at Elfindale and the Manor at Elfindale in Springfield, Mo.

Evangel Business
Jack and Eldora Vetter joined administrators, faculty and students for a dedication and ribbon cutting of the Vetter Center for Social Enterprise.

“I was intrigued when Bernie approached me about how this new business major at Evangel will enable students to apply business concepts to improve the management and promotion of humanitarian, missions and social enterprise endeavors,” said Jack Vetter, who was in attendance with his wife.

The major was launched in the fall of 2012, and the program already has 34 students enrolled.

“This new program is appealing to students who have a head for business and a heart for service,” said Bernie Dana, business department chair.

According to Dana, there are only a few universities in the nation that offer this kind of program as an undergraduate business major.

Vetter has also developed and operates Water for the World, a nonprofit water drilling and development company in Kenya, Africa. Domestically, they support well-managed organizations such as Convoy of Hope.

“We see this opportunity to help develop Evangel students, with these skills and interests, as a good investment of the God-given resources that we have reserved for this purpose,” said Vetter.