In what is expected to be the last major contribution to the University’s $600 million fundraising drive, the University received a $13.67 million donation for the sciences, University President Dave Frohnmayer announced Friday.
The gift stipulates that $10 million be used for a five- to- six-story integrated science building, and the remaining $3.67 million is an endowment to support the Lewis Center for Neuroimaging.
The gift brings Campaign Oregon’s total fundraising to more than $820 million. The drive is set to end in December.
“This is a great day of celebration and gratitude,” Frohnmayer said during the announcement.
Beverly Lewis of Newport Beach, Calif., has donated to the University in the past; the Lewis Center is named for her and her late husband, Robert.
In 2005, the state legislature authorized $30 million in bonds for the University to put toward the integrated science building, on the condition that the University raise matching funds before the bond money was released. Lewis’ $13.67 million pushes the University past that goal. The project will cost $65 million total, an increase from the original $60 million estimate. The University intends to raise another $2.5 million to complete the project.
The Robert and Beverly Lewis Integrated Science Building will be located behind Deschutes Hall. The building, which is still in the planning stages, will “be designed to foster interaction … across scientific disciplines,” University planning associate Emily Eng said.
Understanding brain function, improving human health, developing safe technologies, and achieving sustainability are among the goals for the interdisciplinary research the new building is intended to foster. The disciplines housed in the building will be neuroscience, life science, geoscience, materials and physical science, and computational and information sciences. Laboratories, classrooms and conference rooms will be designed to accommodate research between the varying fields.
The integrated science building, which will be connected to the Lorry I. Lokey Science Complex, is expected to encompass 100,000 square feet. It will be the largest capital construction project for the sciences at the University since the 1980s.
The University is currently soliciting qualifications from architectural firms to design the integrated science building. Groundbreaking on the new complex will begin in the spring or summer of 2009, initial construction will begin in 2010, and the grand opening is slated for 2012.
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