Dodie Anderson’s gift of $2 million to the Greenville Tech Foundation will help to transform a building on Greenville Technical College’s Barton Campus into a center where students will find the resources and services to enroll and succeed. The Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center is intended to welcome and support people and provide tools to help transform their lives through education.

Enrolling at Greenville Technical College (GTC) as an adult, Anderson was hesitant to return to the classroom, having been told in high school that college wasn’t for her. In her first class at GTC, she found support from a history instructor, Dr. Norm Raiford, who built her confidence and showed her that she belonged on a college campus, that she could achieve, and that she could set her sights even higher. Earning an associate degree at GTC in 1979, Anderson moved on to what was then USC Spartanburg where she completed a bachelor’s degree. The knowledge she gained allowed Anderson and her husband to grow their plywood manufacturing company into Anderson Hardwood Flooring, a well-known name in flooring products and services that they eventually sold to a competitor.

In selecting the building’s name, Anderson has honored a classmate, Dr. Daniel Dreisbach.

The Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center will house enrollment services including admissions and financial aid to help students begin their educational journeys. It will also include anything a student needs to move forward, overcome barriers, and excel including tutoring, academic coaching, counseling, and veterans support. Renovations to the building that will become the Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center are expected to begin in summer 2019, and hopes are to open the center in summer 2020.

“Though Dodie Anderson has been supportive of education across South Carolina, she has always referred to Greenville Technical College as her college,” said Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College. “Her gift, honoring a classmate who also built a foundation for a very successful career on our campus, is especially meaningful to us as it shows that anything is possible by starting at Greenville Technical College.”

“It is important to me to help students know that they can achieve anything they wish with the right help,” said Dodie Anderson. “In the Dreisbach/Anderson Student Success Center, they will receive what I did – support that will allow them to believe in themselves, to achieve their goals, and to continue to set the bar higher. My goal is to pay it forward and to honor those who achieved alongside me as well as those who made it possible.”