Centre College in the 21st Century
In 2000, Centre made history as the smallest institution ever to host a General Election debate when the two vice presidential candidates, Sen. Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney, faced one another in the College's Norton Center for the Arts. CBS news anchor Dan Rather later described the debate at Centre as "the best vice presidential debate ever held." In 2012, Centre again hosted the nation's only vice presidential debate, between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan. "They aced it in 2000," said Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, after the 2012 debate, "and this year was even better." A thriving study abroad program attracts about 85 percent of Centre students.
The first Posse students arrived from Boston in 2006. The first Grissom Scholars, first-generation college students awarded a highly competitive scholarship, arrived in 2015. The first Lincoln Scholars, who possess "the capacity and deep desire to change the world," arrived in 2016. In 2019, the College celebrated its bicentennial and the end of the Third Century Campaign which raised $210 million.. Centre’s 21st president, Milton Moreland, began July 1, 2020.
In 2023, the campus includes approximately 178 acres. Many of Centre’s buildings are new or newly renovated. In 2021, the College announced the Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence, a $50 million complex that will include a 10-lane, 50-meter pool, a 200-meter indoor track, and a 6,000-square-foot strength and wellness center. Northside Residence Hall opened in August 2019. A major renovation and expansion to Olin Hall (science and mathematics) opened in 2021. Brockman Residential Commons opened in August of 2012. And a $21 million addition and renovation to Young Hall, one of two buildings dedicated to science, opened in 2010.
Throughout its long history, Centre has been supported and enhanced by its alumni, who have taken positions of prominence and usefulness in a variety of fields. Centre alumni include two U.S. vice presidents, one Chief Justice of the United States, an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and at least 13 U.S. senators, 43 U.S. representatives, and 11 state governors. Other Centre alumni have been and are leaders in a variety of fields, including teaching, business, medicine, law, and journalism. Centre alumni are widely known as the most loyal in the nation, for years leading all of America's colleges and universities in the percentage who give financial support each year.