Plans for $45 million "Trustee Challenge" campus building project approved at Centre

RELEASED: April 16, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College's Board of Trustees has approved plans to move ahead on a series of dramatic expansion and renovation projects on campus to take place over the next three years. This will include an expansion and renovation of the College's science facilities, its student center and dining facilities, and a complete refurbishment of the Norton Center for the Arts.

The Board agreed to accept an extraordinary gift of $22.5 million from a small group of trustees that would provide a base to generate the $45 million that will ultimately be needed for the project. Details of the financing arrangements are still under discussion.

Young Hall, which contains the college's classrooms and laboratory facilities, will be expanded in significant ways to accommodate state-of-the-art scientific teaching and research. A new student center will be built, featuring a dining commons and other facilities to enhance Centre's national reputation as a highly residential, engaged undergraduate experience. The Norton Center for the Arts, the premier facility of its type in this region of the country, will also undergo a major renovation as part of this project.
 
"This project represents a historic moment in the life of Centre College," Centre President John A. Roush said.  "It will bring campus facilities in line with our national competition and, more importantly, provide learning and teaching spaces that will better serve the needs of our students, faculty and staff."  

In addition to working out the specifics of financing, the next step, according to John Cuny, Centre vice president for finance, will be to conduct a campus-wide planning process to determine specifics of the expansion, renovation and refurbishment activities that will occur over the next three years.

Along with approval of the "Trustee Challenge," another campus construction project was highlighted at this spring's Trustee's meeting: the groundbreaking on construction of Pearl Hall, the College's newest residence facility. News of the "Trustee Challenge" was announced to the crowd at the end of the Pearl Hall groundbreaking ceremony.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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