Welcome to the University of Rochester for what promises to be a particularly eventful year.
We have opened the revitalized Danforth Dining Center. Danforth has been renovated to create a dining hall that emphasizes fresh, delicious, and healthy food in a state-of-the art restaurant design and is another step in Dining Services quest to be “ever better” that began with the renovation of The Commons in Wilson Commons last summer.
In a few days, we will break ground on a new 148-bed residence hall near Anderson and Wilder Towers. The five-story hall will anchor Founders Court and represents our progress on a multiyear plan to provide quality housing for our students.
On the Wilson Quadrangle, progress continues on Raymond F. LeChase Hall, the future home of the Warner School. Named for the father of Trustee R. Wayne LeChase, the building articulates our commitment to being a community leader in providing outstanding preparation for teachers, counselors, and administrators in K-12 education. LeChase Hall includes a suite of 14 state-of-the-art classrooms that the College can use during the day. The new building also will free up much-needed space in Dewey Hall to accommodate undergraduate academic programs of the College.
This year the Eastman School will celebrate the 90th anniversary of one of the storied programs of our University. Dedicated in 2010, the newly opened East Wing, an addition to Eastman Theatre that includes the stunning new Hatch Recital Hall, has already changed the landscape of music performance in Rochester.
This fall marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Our University was deeply touched by that tragedy. We mourn the deaths of six of our alumni: Jeremy Glick ’93, Zack Zeng ’95, ’98S (MBA), Jeffrey Smith’87, ’88S (MBA), Jean Hoadley Peterson’69N, Brendan Dolan’86, and Aram Iskenderian’82. We also remember the Rochester alumni who have served our country since that tragic day 10 years ago.
A highlight of the fall calendar is Meliora Weekend. This year’s 10th anniversary celebration promises to be particularly noteworthy. Former President Bill Clinton, the founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation, will be the keynote speaker. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Sack ’60, and former Massachusetts Chief Justice Margaret Marshall will participate in a panel discussion as part of a Presidential Symposium moderated by Arthur Miller ’56, ’08 (Honorary). Meliora Weekend is a University of Rochester intellectual feast —representing the vibrant, multidisciplinary, community-spirited energy of our University. This year during Meliora Weekend we will publicly announce our Capital Campaign, a pivotal step in our efforts to raise resources to further support our students, faculty, and programs.
We are a University on the move. We see that in the pride that alumni, faculty, students, and friends take in Rochester’s history and achievements. We are committed to ensuring that the University becomes ever better. In July, Rochester entrepreneur Tom Golisano pledged $20 million to help build a stand-alone Golisano Children’s Hospital at the Medical Center. The project is the largest construction project in absolute dollars in our history.
Members of our Board of Trustees have demonstrated their leadership. In the last few months, Barry Florescue ’66 contributed $5 million to support the newly created undergraduate business major; Mark Ain ’67S (MBA) and his wife, Carolyn, made a $3 million gift commitment to support entrepreneurship education and scholarships at the Simon School of Business; and Gwen Greene ’65 made a $1 million commitment to improve the programs of the College’s career center.
We are building on this momentum. We share a dream to make Rochester one of the leading research universities of the 21st century, a community leader, and home to outstanding faculty, students, and staff. Our new mission statement captures our spirit in 10 words: “Learn, Discover, Heal, Create—and Make the World Ever Better.” This fall, the next chapter of our history begins.