Alumni Makes Contribution in Honor of
Alumni Lost on September 11th

Not since the completion of Knott Athletic Recreation Convocation Complex in 1989 has the campus of Mount St. Mary’s College seen so much construction! Last spring the Mount broke ground on the William G. McGowan Center, the most ambitious and anticipated capital project since the Knott ARCC was built. The McGowan Center has since begun the process of turning blueprint images into reality.

Named in honor of the late William G. McGowan, founder of MCI Communications, Inc., the McGowan Center will combine a 43,500-square-foot renovation of the existing Cogan Student Union Building with a 36,500 square-foot addition, creating a vibrant, attractive building that will ultimately become the hub of student life on the Mount St. Mary's campus.

The McGowan Center will provide students with a gathering place that includes; student activity offices, a graphics computer lab, centralized student services (such as the relocated wellness and career centers) and expanded dining options that better fit the way students work and live.

In an admirable act to honor alumni and immediate family of alumni lost in the September 11th Attack on America, alumnus, Tom Holmes, C’68, of Long Boat Key, Fla., has acted in a generous and thoughtful manner by making a significant contribution to the Connections Campaign to aid in the funding of the construction of the new McGowan Center dining hall. The new dining hall will appropriately be named Patriot Hall. "Now the Mount will always have a reminder of the national tragedy that we endured on September 11th," commented Holmes. "My hope is that Mount students always remember September 11th, whether it is today or in thirty years."

The McGowan Center is one of the crowning achievements of Connections: The Campaign for the Mount, an ambitious, multidimensional campaign that surpassed its $30 million goal by raising $39.7 million over a five-year period. A web cam has been installed to illustrate progress as the construction takes place.

A formal dedication of the McGowan Center is being scheduled for fall 2002.