DAYTON, Tenn. — A $1 million challenge gift will allow Bryan College to break ground on its new entrance in January, college President Dr. Stephen Livesay said.

Dr. Livesay said last week that Bryan graduate Brett Landes, a Dallas businessman, pledged the money during recent homecoming festivities. The gift will help with other projects in Bryan’s Vision 2020 campus development plan, Dr. Livesay said.

The new entrance is on U.S. Highway 27 a half mile north of the state Route 30 intersection. The college has the property and permits for the project.

Dr. Livesay said in a statement that the new entrance will create a first impression of the college that will “match the reality of our great school.”

“It will make a major contribution to our community, and it will enhance the educational experience for our students,” he said. “The new entrance will attract more friends to come alongside and help us to expand our majors, provide more faculty and provide better facilities and more opportunities for our students.”

The new entrance will open the western side of the campus, which is where some new construction called for in the development plan will take place. Vision 2020 includes plans for new buildings to house the Bryan Center for Critical Thought and Practice, a performing arts theater, an athletics and convention center and administrative offices.

Mr. Landes is a 1982 business administration graduate who was inducted into the college’s Athletics Hall of Fame during homecoming. He credited Bryan for helping him develop a solid foundation for success in life.

“There are things in life ... far more important than material things,” Mr. Landes said in the statement. “I’m very appreciative of the education and the grounding I got here and all the relationships.”

Dr. Livesay said the college would hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of the construction project in January.

A second groundbreaking is planned for April 17, 2009, when former presidential speechwriter Michael Gerson is expected to lecture at Bryan.

The project is supposed to be complete when classes begin next fall.