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Final push to meet Walton Foundation challenge begins
For Immediate Release
November 30, 2004
>>Kauke Brick Pledge Form
WOOSTER, Ohio - With less than three months left to match
The Walton Family Foundation’s $8 million challenge grant
for the renovation of Kauke Hall, President Stan Hales is asking
thousands of College of Wooster alumni to help put the effort
over
the top.
To date, the college has secured $6.5 million toward that goal
from individuals, foundations and corporations. And in a letter
to some 36,000 alumni, parents, and friends this month, Hales revealed
a new “challenge within the challenge.” The 1525 Foundation
of Cleveland has promised to give the final $500,000 once the total
raised from other sources reaches $7.5 million. The foundation’s
grant will be in memory of former Wooster President Howard Lowry,
and former Professor of Religion John Bruere.
After the Walton challenge has been met, the college will still
need to raise an additional $2 million to complete funding for the
$18 million renovation.
The renovated Kauke will include a ground-level coffee shop opening
onto a courtyard seating area on the south side of the building.
The courtyard will feature a semi-circular wall where donors of
$1,500 or more to the project will be recognized with commemorative
bricks in three sizes. In his letter, Hales urged alumni to help
rebuild Kauke “one brick at a time.”
“As I have traveled around the country to meet with groups
of alumni, parents, and friends and to outline the goals of the
Independent Minds campaign,” he said, “I have come to
appreciate how much Kauke Hall means to members of the Wooster family.
They believe, as I do, that Kauke’s physical appearance should
reflect the value we place on what happens in the building.”
Kauke Hall, the physical and symbolic centerpiece of Wooster’s
campus, is home to more than a dozen academic departments.
One alumna wrote to Hales: “For most of us, it was a part
of our daily experience for four years. We remember moments of illumination,
frustration, and exhilaration, a growing awareness that ideas do
matter, and are worth a good argument. We remember the professors
who made us think, challenged our assumptions, and urged us not
to accept the banal or second-rate…We remember making dates
and excuses and friends in Kauke Hall.”
The College of Wooster is an independent liberal arts college,
nationally recognized for an innovative curriculum that emphasizes
independent learning. Each Wooster senior works one-on-one with
a faculty mentor to create an original research project, written
work, performance or art exhibit. Founded in 1866, the college enrolls
approximately 1,800 students.
In October 2003, the college launched Independent Minds: The Campaign
for Wooster, the largest fund-raising campaign in its history. To
date, $94 million has been raised toward a goal of $122 million.
The campaign will conclude on June 30, 2007. |
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