Why we built it — President’s messageSept. 25, 2006
The size of the residential student population at Norwich University has more than doubled since our current dining facility was built more than fifty years ago. More students than ever are taking advantage of our excellent food service, which is a nice problem to have, but it means we need a modern and larger dining area in order to prevent congestion during the most popular dining hours — especially since we plan to increase the size of the residential student population by another 33-percent by the year 2019.
Norwich also has a young and enthusiastic Student Life/Activities staff, whose many extracurricular projects, activities, and events require both meeting space and modern staging venues. The students, faculty, and staff expressed an interest in a new and improved campus life facility. The administration collaborated with experienced architects to develop a construction plan, and in January of 2006, our Board of Trustees gave their approval.
Thank you for your interest in this project! We are confident that the planned infrastructure improvements will serve the University well for the next fifty years.
~ President Richard Schneider
A very generous pledge of $4 million — the largest single gift ever from a living alumnus — has been made by Trustee Emeritus Robert Mack ’64. This pledge, together with others made to our Norwich Forever! fundraising campaign, has made it possible for us to embark on an ambitious project, to renovate more than 46,000 gsf (gross square feet) of Harmon Hall and add another 24,590 gsf of space, for a total finished building of 71,420 gsf. The project, named the Wise Campus Center in honor of Trustee Emeritus Mack’s uncle, Cliff Wise, should be complete by August of 2007, at a total cost of approximately $25 million.
Thank you for your interest in this project! We are confident that the planned infrastructure improvements will serve the University well for the next fifty years. It will enable us to keep our mission vibrant, to meet the requirements for our NU2019 strategic plan, and to remain a strong, competitive institution of higher learning well into the future.
