More than 10 years after it was proposed and six years after fund raising began, the University's most ambitious construction project ever-the $79.5 million Levine Science Research Center-still needs just a few more big givers.
The LSRC opened during the summer of 1994 with occupants from the School of Engineering, the Arts and Sciences, the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Medical Center. The research center, which houses classrooms, laboratories, conference rooms and dining facilities in a building approximately three football fields in length, was designed to encourage collaborative research among the University's many departments and provide a science research facility to rival any other in the nation.
The University originally floated $9 million worth of bonds to pay for the building, leaving a fund-raising target of $70.5 million. As of June 30, the total commitment raised stood at $63,062,011-or $7,437,989 short of that goal. The fund-raising effort was initially supported through a $10 million gift from Leon Levine, for whom the facility is named, and a subsequent $10 million gift from the Doris Duke estate.
"This kind of project is an exceedingly difficult project to raise money for," said Bob Shepard, associate vice president and executive director of development. "$70 million is one heck of a lot of money to raise... especially for such an esoteric project." He said that with the bulk of the fund raising completed, his office is already looking ahead to larger projects such as the University's capital campaign.
President Nan Keohane and Shepard agreed, however, that funding for the LSRC should be finished as soon as possible. "The completion of funding for the LSRC remains a high priority," Keohane said. "We don't have a deadline, and it's part of the larger planning for the [capital] campaign period, but it will be nice to have it wrapped up."
The remaining funds for the LSRC will come from several different sources. Although senior administrators-including Keohane and John Piva, senior vice president for alumni affairs and development-are working to attract major donors, each school that occupies a portion of the facility is required to fund a certain amount of the cost of the building.
The School of Engineering, for example, uses approximately 10,000 square feet of space located above the building's dining commons. To fund that space-which includes laboratories, modern equipment and offices-the school is required to raise $4.7 million, said Judge Carr, associate dean and director of development for the engineering school. He said the school has already raised $3.7 million and hopes to raise the remainder within the next year by soliciting individual gifts.
"We're still paying the yearly interest on our debt," Carr said, "so we want to find donors as fast as possible."
Carr, who graduated from the School of Engineering in 1971, said the engineering facility is well worth the fund-raising effort. "It's far superior to anything we had back in '71," he said.
Arts and Sciences, which supports two departments in the LSRC, has a fund-raising goal of approximately $16.6 million, said Susan Ross, associate dean for advancement of Arts and Sciences. The entire computer science department and the developmental cell and molecular biology group use teaching facilities located at the center of the facility, including Love Auditorium and a series of classrooms. So far, Arts and Sciences has raised $10.5 million to pay for their allotment within the facility.
Ross added that the Arts and Sciences' fund raising focused solely on the LSRC is just about finished. "The main part of the campaign is behind us," she said. "We're now going to incorporate science needs into future campaign plans for the Arts and Sciences," A portion of the funds raised in its general campaign will be used to allay the remaining debt on its portion of the LSRC.
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