For College fundraisers, April Fool's Day was no joke. The Kresge Foundation, a private grant-giving organization, promised to reward the College with a whopping $1 million challenge grant toward the construction of new math department home Kemeny Hall if it could raise $10.6 million by April 1.
Fifteen months of mailings, student calls from Greencorps and advertisements in the Alumni Magazine paid off in grand fashion, with alumni gifts rolling in at $10.7 million on time to meet the Kresge Challenge.
The 60,000 square-foot Kemeny Hall, under construction north of Baker-Berry Library, will reunite the math department, previously split between Sudikoff, the Choate House and Bradley Hall. The new Haldeman Center, which will be attached to the Hall, will house the Dickey Center, Leslie Humanities Center and Ethics institute.
The Hall will honor late Dartmouth President John Kemeny, who served as College President from 1970 to 1981 and oversaw the institution of co-education, minority recruitment and the Dartmouth Plan. Kemeny co-invented BASIC computer programming and equated reading literacy with computer literacy at Dartmouth, helping pioneer student computer use and mold the College's technologically savvy image.
In addition to his role as College President, Kemeny was dedicated to his career as a math professor, and continued to teach Calculus even after becoming President --- making it particularly appropriate that the math building will be named in his honor.
"The success of this challenge is a testament to both the respect people had for John Kemeny and their commitment to seeing Dartmouth advance its educational mission," President James Wright said in an official statement. "John influenced so many lives-as a teacher, scholar, president, and public servant. This new facility, named in his honor, will better enable our distinguished faculty to do the same."
Michael Leede '81, one of the lead donors, said he had emotional reasons for wanting to donate because he graduated the same year Kemeny left office.
"His last commencement was our commencement," Leede said.
Leede said the idea of the Kresge Challenge also spurred him to donate.
"I liked the idea of being able to hopefully contribute to a cause that would allow additional funds to come in," he said. "That was a big driver for me. I was hoping to be part of a group that could meet the challenge and have the extra million dollars come to Dartmouth."
According to Deputy Director of Individual and Organizational Giving Mark Johnson, the College raised $14 million toward Kemeny Hall prior to the 15-month challenge period, and those donations, paired with the money raised during that time and the challenge grant, will cover roughly three-fifths of the building's $41 million dollar cost.
"I would say that in the time that I've been here, nothing about the generosity surprises me -- I've seen them step forward time and again," Johnson said. "It's really amazing to see year and year out the positive regard alumni have for the institution and the way it translates into support for the college and its priorities."
Executive Officer of the Provost's Office Mary Gorman said construction for Kimeny Hall is on schedule. Project Manager Bill Kitchel said the building, which will have a primarily brick veneer, will be completed in June of 2006. The foundation for the building is 85 percent complete and construction of the steel frame has already begun, and will continue through July, Kitchel said.
Since construction costs went up by $460,000 during the 15-month challenge period, the College is continuing to accept gifts toward the project.
