The University of North Alabama has launched the historic Shine On, Gold $100 million comprehensive campaign.

UNA Launches Historic Shine On, Gold $100 Million Comprehensive Campaign

Oct. 02, 2023



Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@babieslovemusic.com, 256.765.4392

FLORENCE, AL – The University of North Alabama has launched its most ambitious and historic comprehensive campaign to date. The Shine On, Gold campaign for the University of North Alabama, with a $100 million goal, was announced Friday evening as part of the second Alumni Celebration and the University’s annual Homecoming. 

“The University of North Alabama is poised for what will soon be a third century of delivering high-quality academic programs on one of the most beautiful college campuses in the South,” said UNA’s President Dr. Ken Kitts. “The time is right for us to build off of our incredible momentum of record-breaking enrollment, record-breaking foundation growth, and Top 20 rankings in national publications. It really is our time to roar!” 

Already, and as part of the launch, the campaign is at 61 percent of its goal of $100 million. 

“The Shine On, Gold campaign is ambitious,” President Kitts said. “Together, we will ensure that UNA continues to set a high standard for educational excellence and is acknowledged for its many contributions to our state, region, and country.” 

The campaign includes six priorities as identified through President Kitts’s leadership and vision as well as through endorsements by the UNA Board of Trustees, the UNA Foundation, and the National Alumni Association. The priorities include:

  • The Music Performance Center,
  • Student Scholarships,
  • The Presidential Scholarship Program,
  • The Multi-Purpose Stadium,
  • The Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion,
  • The 1830 Fund, and
  • Donor-Directed Purposes 

“Success in any endeavor is all about people and the relationships we have with them,” said Kevin Haslam, Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director of the UNA Foundation. “With the quality and character of our alumni base, friends, and the incredible people who make up the Shoals communities, I have no doubt that the Shine On, Gold campaign will be highly successful, much to the benefit of UNA’s faculty, staff, and students for generations.”

The theme itself – Shine On, Gold – is the embodiment of UNA’s markers of excellence – the record-breaking enrollment, record-breaking foundation growth, rankings in national publications; the stories of success among UNA’s students, faculty, and academic programs; and, of course, the traditional gold of UNA’s colors – purple and gold. 

For more on the campaign or how to give, log on to babieslovemusic.com/shineongold.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: babieslovemusic.com and babieslovemusic.com/unaworks/.