The Science Center campaign at Roanoke College continues to attract large donations, with three alumni of the college and their spouses donating $5.3 million.
The Science Center campaign at Roanoke College continues to attract large donations as it nears the $20 million mark. Most recently, three alumni of the college and their spouses have donated a total of $5.3 million.
Roanoke College considers the Science Center project to be its most important at the moment. It will be built, says a press release “for the next century of discovery with state-of-the-art teaching and learning spaces.”
The plan envisions completion of renovations of the half-century-old Life Sciences and Trexler buildings, and the removal of Massengill Auditorium and construction of a new up to date central building in its place. That will connect Life Sciences and Trexler into one integrated facility
The most recent gifts come from John and Betty Shannon ($3.3 million), Morris and Sheila Cregger ($1 million) and Dr. Paul and Constance Capp ($1 million).
Says Shannon (a 1952 graduate) and a former member of the Roanoke College Board of Trustees, “It’s something the College has needed and the time has come to go forward with it.”
Roanoke’s student population has doubled since the science buildings were constructed in 1970.
Shannon adds, “What we are going through now, with the pandemic, has further increased the need in the science area. This is a great opportunity to update the College in this area.”
Shannon is retired, after a long and distinguished career as chief legal officer for Norfolk Southern Corp.
Morris Cregger (’64), the retired chairman of the Roanoke College Board of Trustees. “We know President [Mike] Maxey would like to break ground on the Science Center soon," he says. "We made our gift in their honor with hopes it will inspire others to join us to make this project a success.”
“They say it is the impact of one’s life on those that follow that measure’s one’s contributions,” Cregger says. “Mike and Terri have a strong legacy at Roanoke as they touch so many lives.”
Relationships also played a key role for Dr. Paul Capp '52.
Dr. Paul Capp (’52) is a member of the College’s Board of Trustees. “I would not be where I am today if not for the professors who taught and advised me,” he says. Capp has spent his career in physics and medicine in academia – 73 years, all told – first at Roanoke, then at Duke, University of North Carolina and the University of Arizona Medical School.
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).