Another change is stunningly obvious to anyone who has visited campus this year: the continuing construction of the John J. Hemmingson Center, which has accrued a growing exo-skeleton of structural steel and concrete, soon to be “dried in” with roof and exterior walls. We are on budget and on schedule with this project – made possible through the lead gift of friend and Trustee John Hemmingson and a number of generous benefactors. Completion of this facility is scheduled for July 2015.
2013-14 has been a very good year. We are filled with faith and confidence that the Gonzaga University community will continue to thrive and flourish. And we are ever grateful to all those whose belief in this mission of the Society of Jesus allows us to continue this important work. May God continue to bless you, and bless us all: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
And this remarkable blessing: A scion of one of Spokane’s pioneering families, and a longtime friend, has bequeathed to the University a commitment to design, build and furnish the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center. Miss Woldson devoted her life to the arts and music in Spokane. She died in April 2014, having just turned 104. Among her specific requests was that the central 750-seat performance hall be named in honor of Father Bernard Coughlin, S.J., Gonzaga’s chancellor. The announcement of Miss Woldson’s gift injected deep excitement into our performing arts students and faculty. Gonzaga is genuinely indebted to these and other benefactors. And still, we work tirelessly to garner support for our most critical need: continued financial support for students. In the coming decade, our nation will see a large number of students who are first-generation college-bound, much more ethnically and culturally diverse, but with fewer financial resources than we have seen in the preceding generation. Affordability will be a big factor in the college decisionmaking for these students. As well, we continually face the challenge of providing sufficient financial assistance for students from middle income families. We are committed to helping our students and their families bear the financial burden of a Gonzaga education – and we need your help to do it. Instititutional support for students is the linchpin that has allowed generations of students to come to Gonzaga, to stretch themselves in mind, body and spirit. And so, we will continue to come to you – our most dedicated and generous supporters – to reach out to the next generation of deserving young people, who will do so much in their lives with their Gonzaga education. In each of them is so much potential: They are our future, these talented, imaginative, compassionate leaders of tomorrow. As did the generation before them, they now look to each of us, a community of benefactors and patrons, for our faith and belief in them.
Thayne M. McCulloh, President
Report of the President 2014
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