University of Oregon Alumni Center clears $10 million, almost halfway to goal

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 12, 2007) -- The University of Oregon is nearing the halfway mark in its drive to raise $25 million to provide a permanent place on campus “where Ducks connect,” President Dave Frohnmayer announced Friday.

Frohnmayer made the announcement during a Homecoming celebration on the site of the future center. The location of the center at a highly visible intersection, currently a parking lot bordering Agate Street, Franklin Boulevard and East 13th Avenue, will create a new gateway to the university campus and provide a place to foster relationships among the university and current and prospective students, alumni, benefactors and the community.

“Some very generous donors have stepped forward to make this long-held dream a reality, and now all our alumni and friends have a chance to contribute,” said Frohnmayer, in launching the public phase of the Alumni Center fundraising campaign.

The center has been officially named the Cheryl Ramberg Ford and Allyn Ford Alumni Center after the Roseburg couple who gave $5 million to launch the $25 million campaign.

Opsis Architecture, of Portland, was introduced as the firm selected to design the facility. The principals of the firm, Alec Holser, James Kalvelage and James Meyer, all graduated from the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts in 1981 and together founded Opsis in 1999.

"We have spoken to many of the people who will occupy this building, to our fellow alumni, to university officials and to future users of the Alumni Center, and we are excited about the possibilities that the space will offer and how it will provide for the university's future," said Holser, who was also a principal architect on the UO’s William W. Knight Law School.

"A featured building at the gateway to the University of Oregon is such a distinguished project to professionally be involved in for our firm, and as alumni, for each of us personally," Holser added.

The Alumni Center, which will be across the street from the site of the new UO basketball arena, will also serve a broad campus need for additional conference and event space. The public areas of the estimated 50,000-to-60,000-square-foot facility will include a reception and lobby area, a banquet room and catering facilities, conference and meeting space, and innovative and interactive space to present the university story and accomplishments of its alumni. The center will also include offices for the UO Alumni Association, the UO Foundation, and the UO Office of Development.

In addition, the university is taking an innovative step and including the UO Career Center in the building, something that few universities have done.

"Your relationship with the university doesn't end when you graduate," said Alumni Center campaign committee co-chair George Glass. "In fact, it's only beginning. My grandfather, father, and I were all presidents of the Alumni Board. As an alum, I depend on the Alumni Association to help keep me connected. And with the addition of the Career Center in the building, the Alumni Center will be more than a place for alumni to call home -- it will be a place that will offer young alumni support and guidance throughout their professional careers."

Identified as a top priority of the $600 million Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives, the Alumni Center project is expected to break ground in the spring of 2009, with occupancy in the first half of 2010.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon’s flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contacts:
Julie Brown, UO Office of Public and Media Relations, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
Jennifer Casey, UO Alumni Association, 541-346-5878, jcasey@uoregon.edu

Link: UO Alumni Center, http://www.uoalumni.com/center/

###