Longtime Converse supporters Mike and Gillian Goodrich
With many U.S. colleges and universities trying to rebuild their long-term value due to astronomical tuition and high costs for books and study materials that students don’t even get to keep, Converse University in the heart of downtown Spartanburg will soon get another vote of confidence with the second part of a recent $2 million donation.
Given to the school by alumnus Gillian White Goodrich ’68, and her husband, Mike, the first $1 million was received in June 2026, with the second million pledged by June 2027 – continuing a patronage now at 50 years and counting.
“Their previous gifts have supported campus renovations, student housing, scholarship funds, faculty recognition, and The Converse Fund,” said Karen Rhodes, assistant vice president for university marketing and communications. “The couple’s most recent unrestricted gift provides Converse with immediate, flexible support where it’s needed most.”
This aegis will carry many possibilities for all of its primary majors: Business, Child and Family Studies, Psychology, Biology, and Studio Art.
The potential for more student enrollment is likely as well: As of October 2026, Converse University’s admissions numbered total 1967 students – 1,082 graduates and 885 undergraduates – all from 37 U.S. states and 26 countries worldwide.
Next in line are periodic facility improvements and deferred maintenance – as well as a varying extras and amenities.
“This gift allows Converse to respond with agility to the ever-changing higher education landscape,” Rhodes said, “and ensure that our distinctive programs continue to impact the next generation of leaders.”
Since before the COVID pandemic in 2020, this higher-education landscape has come under increasing fire.
In a 2025 survey of 3,445 U.S. adults by researchers with Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., more than half said colleges are not adequately preparing students for well-paying jobs (55%), and in providing financial help to students who need it (52%).
And this was an improvement over a 2024 Pew survey which concluded that less than 1-in-4 (22%) said a four-year degree was worth the cost – and only then if students didn’t have to take out loans.
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/05/23/is-college-worth-it-2/
Against this backdrop, alumni gifts reinforce the value of any individual institution, but especially Converse, since its founding and creation as a private all-women’s college in 1889 has only changed a few times: It became a private co-educational school in 2020, and adopted the name Converse University in 2021.
University president Boone Hopkins said gifts such as the Goodriches’ represent a bigger expectation to delivering more than just a degree to students.
“This support is an investment in our future,” he said, “and reflects a deep belief in the transformative power of higher education.”
When asked why she continues to support the school aside from it being her alma mater, Gillian Goodrich indicated that she sees many of the same skills still in place that she knew “while on campus.”
“I learned how to work in a group and be a part of a team,” she reflected. “It was many years later that I realized Converse prepared me for the future as a professor, a mother, and a philanthropist.”
