SummEr/FAll 2011 - Nazareth College

Groundbreaking Boosted by New Donations
by Alicia Nestle
Nazareth College President Daan Braveman was joined
by Board of Trustees Chair Judy Wilmot Linehan ’76,
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and many federal,
state, and local lawmakers to ceremoniously break ground
for Nazareth’s Integrated Center for Math and Science.
The $31 million center, which received a major boost with new gifts
totaling more than $2.5 million dollars, will play an instrumental role
in leading the way for Nazareth students to receive the very best in
math and science education, while also fueling the Rochester region’s
economy with health and human services professionals and teachers
who remain in the area to work after graduation.
“This facility will have a long-term impact on the College and the
community. It will allow us to expand the number of students interested
in pursuing careers in science, technology, and math as well as
President Daan Braveman and U.S. Senator Chuck Shumer (D-NY) reveal a
rendering of the Integrated Center for Math and Science.
health and human services and K-12 teaching of these subjects,” said
Braveman. “And it will have an economic effect on the region as close
to three-quarters of students in the health and human services field
and an equally large number of our students in education programs
remain in the area to work after graduation.”
Nazareth College has raised nearly half of the total $31 million cost
of the building to date, including the more than $2.5 million in new
gifts from Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, John “Dutch” Summers,
Louise Woerner and Don Kollmorgen, and RG&E. The remainder of
funding for the Integrated Center for Math and Science will come from
a partnership of private donors, business, and government funds.
“Excellus is investing in the regional healthcare workforce of the
future,” says Zeke Duda, executive vice president and chief financial
officer of Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield and member of Nazareth’s
board of trustees. “We are a major employer in upstate New York, and
as the state’s largest non-profit health insurer, we must work with colleges
like Nazareth to ensure that the health care needs for Rochester
and beyond are being met with a new generation of highly capable
graduates in math and science.”
“RG&E and NYSEG are committed to upstate New York, now and far
into the future,” says Mark Lynch, president of NYSEG and RG&E. “We
are investing in Nazareth’s Integrated Center for Math and Science to
create jobs and train the next generation of New Yorkers to fill those
jobs—that’s why our economic development programs exist.”
When the Nazareth College Integrated Center for Math and Science
opens in fall 2012, the new building will provide training opportunities
for Rochester’s future teachers, health care workers, and scientists.
Check out the live Webcam showing construction of the Integrated
Center for Math and Science at go.naz.edu/webcam
Alicia Nestle is the assistant director for new media in Nazareth’s
marketing and communications department.
www.naz.edu CONNECTIONS | Summer/Fall 2011 11