Shonda Rhimes ’91, the entertainment mogul and Dartmouth trustee, has pledged $15 million dollars to Dartmouth to build an undergraduate residence hall. The Shonda Rhimes Hall, to be opened in the fall of 2028, will be the first Dartmouth building named after a woman or a Black person.
The construction project on West Wheelock Street is part of College President Sian Leah Beilock’s plan to invest $500 million to add 1,000 beds for students, faculty and staff within the next nine years. This comes in response to Dartmouth’s housing shortage for undergraduates.
In particular, the Shonda Rhimes Hall will provide housing for 115 juniors and seniors to “strengthen ... the student community,” according to Dartmouth News.
Rhimes said she hoped her donation would help future students pursue their goals after graduation in an interview with Dartmouth News. She emphasized the importance of investing in universities today.
“At a time when it feels like people are questioning the value of higher education, it feels important to put my money back into higher education,” she said to Dartmouth News.
Rhimes is widely known as the founder of entertainment company Shondaland and as the creator of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bridgerton.” Rhimes has remained closely tied to Dartmouth throughout her career. For example, the fictional main character in “Grey’s Anatomy,” Meredith Grey, is also an alumna of Dartmouth, and is seen wearing a Dartmouth t-shirt on multiple occasions in the show. Rhimes also delivered Dartmouth’s commencement speech for the Class of 2014.
Rhimes has made, and continues to make, an impact on individual students as well. As a trustee, Rhimes periodically makes visits to the College. Film and media studies major Kushal Jayakumar ’26, who met Rhimes during one such visit, said that Rhimes influenced his career goals.
“I aspire to be a producer, similar to her and Mindy Kaling ’01,” Jayakumar said.
He said he appreciated that Rhimes “stepped forward” to help solve the “pressing” housing shortage at Dartmouth.
Vanessa Wynn ’28 said she also admires Rhimes’s contributions to the College. She said she was “really excited” by the historical aspect of dedicating the new building.
“I’m really excited that it is the first woman, and also a woman of color,” Wynn said.
William Parocai ’27 said it was apt that the building would be named after someone with “as much pull” as Rhimes.
On Oct. 18, Rhimes will return to Dartmouth to speak in a fireside chat with Kaling, moderated by Jake Tapper ’91, at an event celebrating the reopening of the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
