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RMU REACHES FUNDRAISING GOAL;OPENS THE WHEATLEY CENTERRobert Morris University held “Celebration2” last monthto mark the successful completion of the largest fundraisingcampaign in RMU history in conjunction with the opening ofthe Wheatley Center, the new building for the School ofCommunications and Information Systems (SCIS) at theuniversity’s main campus in Moon Township.The 50,000-square-foot facility includes an art gallery, a 3-Ddesign room, a screening room, computer labs, a café, andmore. It was named for Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), a slave,poet, and first African-American woman to publish a book.The name was selected by SCIS full-time faculty and staffand announced during the event.The Wheatley Center is possible thanks to the $40 million,Changing Lives, Building Futures fundraising campaign,which also paid for the School of Business building thatopened last year.“This building is symbolic of how the capital campaign hascontributed to the ongoing transformation of Robert MorrisUniversity while allowing us to stay true to the mission andcore values that this community embraces like no otheruniversity I've seen,” said Gregory G. Dell’Omo, president ofRobert Morris University.More than 8,200 donors contributed to the university overSTORY AND PHOTO SUBMITTEDthe course of the campaign, which launched in 2006. Other campaignachievements include 30 new scholarship funds, the endowedresearch center, and the RMU Research Center on Black MaleEducational Student Success, which is funded through a gift fromThe Heinz Endowments.The School of Communications and Information Systems includesdegree programs in communication, media arts, computer, andinformation systems, English, and organizational leadership. Its newbuilding is part of a plan to give each of RMU’s five schools its owndedicated space. The university soon will break ground on a medicalsimulation center for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, setto open in 2013.