Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University today announced a new $1.5 million gift to the Clinical Education Complex at WKU from The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration Inc., based in Clearwater, Fla.  Combined with The Center’s previous gift of $750,000, this gift will provide a total of $2.25 million for the CEC.  The Center, acting through one of its directors, Leo Govoni, has chosen to honor CEC visionary Suzanne Vitale by naming the CEC after her.
           
Vitale has always believed in being prepared.  As the leader behind the development of the CEC and the grandparent of a child with autism, she stood ready to tell the story of the CEC any time, any place. 
           
As chair of the Charter Committee for the CEC, she could rise to the occasion in any setting, by giving a 20-minute speech or by quickly hitting the highlights in her “elevator pitch.”  The name reflects the fact that the pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride.  Vitale gives new meaning to the term.
           
In January 2006, Vitale was attending the fourth annual International Conference on Education in Honolulu.   “As I stepped onto the elevator on the 27th floor of my hotel with my notes in hand for a presentation I was about to make, I was willing, as always, to talk to anyone who would listen to what I had learned about autism,” Vitale said.  “A gentleman leaned around the woman I was talking to in the crowded elevator and said, ‘It sounds to me like you need money, and I have funds.’   My heart skipped a beat as we rode to the lobby level of the hotel.”
           
The gentleman was Leo Govoni, one of the directors of The Center.  Vitale had her elevator speech ready, and she shared it that day with Govoni.  He was out of business cards, so he and Vitale exchanged names and numbers on a quickly snatched piece of paper. 
           
Never one to lose an opportunity, Vitale followed up with Govoni a mere three days after the conference ended.  She traveled to Clearwater to meet with him and the other directors of The Center.  Later, Govoni made the first of several trips to Bowling Green to learn more about the CEC and to meet with its faculty and staff.
           
Impressed with what Govoni saw in Bowling Green, The Center made an initial gift of $750,000, which included $500,000 toward the completion of the building.  The new commitment of $1.5 million will permanently fund three new positions for the CEC, which brings The Center’s total commitment to WKU to $2.25 million.
           
According to Mary Lloyd Moore, CEC director, these positions are Program Manager for the Kelly Autism Program, Teacher/Supervisor in the Early Childhood Center, and Coordinator of the Family Resource Program. “This generous gift from The Center will significantly impact the Clinical Education Complex in that this gift will ensure the staffing of integral positions in the CEC,” she said.  “With the funding of these positions, the CEC will be able to provide state-of-the -art services and support for individuals with disabilities and their families.”
           
WKU Provost Barbara Burch said the Center’s continuing and generous support of the CEC has been a critical factor in its success.  “Mr. Govoni and the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration have recognized the needs of the CEC and helped to meet them,” she said. 
           
Calling Kentucky his “new adopted state,” Govoni said he’s been deeply moved by the Commonwealth’s commitment to the disabled community.  “As a result, we’ve been able to fund WKU and other programs in Kentucky,” he said.  “The sense of community in the area is huge.  What continues to impress me is the progress of what the folks at the CEC said they would do and what they have accomplished in two short years. [WKU President] Gary Ransdell’s commitment to the program makes him a visionary, and the volunteers and staff are fervent believers as well.”
           
For a gift of this magnitude, WKU offered to name the CEC in The Center’s honor.  The Center chose, however, to direct the honor to Vitale and asked that the building be named the “Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at WKU” in honor of this extraordinary visionary.
           
Simply put, Govoni said that all directors of The Center strongly believed that Vitale really deserves this honor.  “Having her name on the CEC is far more important to the program and to us than having any other name on it, including our own,” he said.  “The community is so fortunate to have Suzanne.  She needs to be memorialized through the naming of the facility, and it needs to happen while she’s here.”
           
Burch said the CEC’s name will now reflect the core values that enabled it to be created.  “The Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at WKU is the perfect naming of this important center,” she said. “Suzanne has been a principal driver in making the CEC a reality.   She had the vision to build a center for children with special needs, and she had the talent, energy and leadership capacity to ensure the CEC became a reality.  I appreciate the Center’s generosity and good judgment in ensuring that the person who is the heartbeat of the CEC is honored.  No one is more deserving of this honor than Suzanne Vitale.”
           
Vitale says having the building named in her honor is the most exciting thing to happen to her since the birth of her own children and grandchildren.  “The news came as a complete surprise to me because my goals have always been to make it possible to have a setting where children and young people could receive desperately needed services,” she said. 
           
“I did not expect to see my name on or in the building,” Vitale continued.  “Having The Center dedicate its donation to the naming of the building in my honor is beyond any expectation I could have had.    When I think of other buildings on WKU’s campus that are named after community members, I know I am in a very select group of people who have loved being part of the Western family.”
           
It is said that many of the most important decisions made on the floor of the U.S. House or Senate are made within the span of an elevator ride, as a staff aide whispers into a congressman’s or senator’s ear while they head down to the floor to cast a vote.  Vitale has certainly proven the value of having an elevator speech memorized and always being ready to talk about the things that mean the most to you.
           
“Leo Govoni is a great friend and partner,” Vitale said.  “Meeting Leo in an elevator in Hawaii was one of many God-directed events that have occurred in the vision, creation of the concept for the CEC, and the completion of the building that is the home to the CEC.  The Center is the reason this four-year journey that began with a community need has resulted in a facility that will provide services for children with special needs and training for students who will become the therapists of tomorrow.”

Clinical Education Complex
           
The CEC is an interdisciplinary and collaborative project that has created a comprehensive clinical setting for health and human service professionals.  It builds upon a strong tradition at WKU to meet local community needs, fill service delivery gaps, provide opportunities for applied research, and enrich both undergraduate and graduate students’ educational experiences through an interdisciplinary team approach.  The Complex is located at former business complex on 14th and Adams streets and houses the Communication Disorders Clinic, the Renshaw Early Childhood Center, the Family Resource Center, the Kelly Autism Program, the Preston Acquired Brain Injury Resource Program, and the Talley Family Counseling Clinic.

The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration
           
The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration, a Florida non-profit corporation, provides special needs trust administration services for disabled individuals throughout the country.  Parents or guardians can set up these trusts to provide lifelong care for their children with special needs.  The Center administers the trusts and protects the beneficiary’s eligibility for governmental benefit programs.  It also serves as a liaison with beneficiaries, family members, service providers, vendors, care givers, and other professionals.  The Center receives trustee fees for its services and has an operational efficiency that allows it to use excess funds to support other non-profit “grassroots” organizations which provide services to the disabled within their communities.