YSU University achieves $12.1M goal for center, thanks to alumni gift

The group helped its alma mater meet a key objective.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The front entrance to Youngstown State University's 65,000-square-foot recreation center now being constructed will be dubbed Alumni Plaza.
The name is appropriate, given that it was a $100,000 gift from the YSU Alumni Society that enabled the university to inch past its goal of raising $12.1 million to build the facility.
YSU announced the donation Wednesday, the day of a deadline for the university to meet a collection objective tied to a $600,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation. The Troy, Mich.-based organization provides money to nonprofit institutions worldwide.
In December, Kresge told YSU, at that time $1.8 million short of its $12.1 million goal, that if the university succeeded in raising $1.2 million by Wednesday, Kresge would give it $600,000.
Just last week, the university still stood about $100,000 from its $1.2 million objective.
That's when the Alumni Society stepped forward.
"It's appropriate that alumni are able to make a gift to benefit the students who will one day be alumni themselves and support the students of the future," a YSU statement to the press quoted Atty. Larry Richards of Boardman as saying.
Richards is president of the Alumni Society, representing nearly 80,000 YSU graduates.
21/2-year effort
YSU began its fund-raising effort in January 2002 with the intent of paying for the recreation center's construction solely through donations instead of raising student fees for the project.
Nearly 650 individuals, including graduates, faculty and staff, contributed to the campaign, which now totals $12.13 million.
Among the major gifts are $2 million from the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Trust, $1.5 million from John and Denise York and $1 million from the Ward and Florence Simon Beecher Foundations.
The center, being constructed on the west side of campus near Fifth Avenue, is the first YSU facility to be built entirely with private funds since the Ward Beecher Science Hall in 1967.
Construction began in April on the recreation facility, to be known officially as the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center.
The building will be attached to the west end of Kilcawley Center and will feature a fitness center, climbing wall, racquetball courts and jogging track.
It's to open in fall 2005.
Though students aren't being charged for construction, they will pay a mandatory fee for the center's operation. That fee has not been set.
The annual budget for the center's operation, including staff pay, utilities and insurance, is estimated at $1 million, Cole said.
leigh@vindy.com