Remarks— Student Center Grand Opening Celebration
Daniel F. Sullivan— February 21, 2004

I was a sophomore at St. Lawrence in 1962 when the Edward John Noble Center opened. What a spectacular addition to the campus it was. It was also the site of my student work job—it had a pool room, ping pong room, and bowling alleys in the basement, where later and until recently there was the Underground, and my job for ten or so hours a week was to oversee that part of the Noble Center . I was on duty there in 1963 when we learned that John F. Kennedy had been shot. I'll never forget the time and place.

I'll also never forget the transformation of student life that it brought. What was until very recently Jack's Snack Shop, along with a small hanger-type building located on Maple Street behind the Phi Sig House where the infamous freshman “mixer” was held each September, was the University's entire student center space until the Noble Center opened. All of a sudden we had a great snack bar, an auditorium for student theater and musical performances, space for student organizations, several beautiful formal lounges and meeting rooms, and, of course, my student work space down in the basement. Students flocked to it, and it became a true center of student life. As students we felt proud that the University had such a space, and we gained a whole new understanding of how important the faculty and administration of the University believed student life outside the classroom to be.

There were 1,300 students at St. Lawrence then. What had been an amazing new space became more cramped over the years as the University grew and, as student life itself changed at St. Lawrence, the need for a different kind of student center slowly took shape.

The geographic center of the campus also began to shift, to the point where today it is precisely at the location of the space in which we now are. And it became more and more clear that a vacated Noble Center would finally allow for desperately needed expansion space for the arts at St. Lawrence.

The need for a new student center was first articulated in the University's facilities planning almost 20 years ago. Today we experience the reality that those early dreams have finally produced, and we already see the transformation of student life this new facility was meant to foster. Students are here in this building all day long and through the night. They are using it in the ways we had hoped, and are discovering new uses that we also hoped they would discover.

The building was designed by the architectural firm of MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, of Pittsburgh, PA , with Albert Filoni as lead architect; the general contractor is Northland Associates, of Syracuse In addition, I'd like to recognize Fred Rycroft, who served as the University's “clerk of the works,” under the oversight of Director of Facilities Operations Claude Banker and Vice President for Administrative Operations Tom Coakley. Cissy Petty, Vice President and Dean of Student Life, working closely with Kate McCaffrey, Director of Co-Curricular Education and Programming, were the “project shepherds,” defining the program, overseeing design, and serving as representative of the client. It is really their vision for how this building could affect student life that the architects have made concrete and real. Students, going way back to 1997, were also involved in the design process in critical ways. Let me name some of them. Many of the names will be familiar to trustees:

Kristen Brondo ‘97
(Indranil) Neil Chatterjee `99
Seth Hopkins `96
Greg Melton `98
Ida Driscoll `99
Susan Harrison ‘01
Julie (Wormer) Higgins `99
Janne Linares `00
Candace Parker `99
Chris Yoshida `00
Megan Babcock `02
Lucas Clemente `01
David Cordella `02
Katie Fitzgibbons `02
Soo Rhee `01
George Williams `03

So here we are, and here it is—a dream and a vision that is now a reality. What a special, special day. While we celebrate the opening of the student center as a whole today, we are also dedicating several major spaces within the building in honor of donors and loved ones. Let me mention those spaces now and recognize those who made them possible:

•A gift from Jim '75 and Cathy Savage Crandell '75 has made possible the Crandell Conference Room (232). Are Jim and Cathy here?

•We recognize today a lifetime of support and service to St. Lawrence in the naming of the Vivien Gardner Hannon Career Library (205), and the John W. Hannon Jr., '44 Room (322).

•Yesterday, in a separate ceremony, we dedicated the Marjorie Watters Longley '47 Student Leadership Suite (301-305).

•A gift from Joyce and Allan Monaco, parents of Mark Allan Monaco, Class of 1996, has made possible the Mark Allan Monaco '96 Memorial Conference Room (242).

•A gift from Jeff Stannard '76 has made possible the Stannard Career Services and Leadership Education Reception Area (202). Jeff is not able to be with us today.

•Gifts from the parents of the Class of 2002 have made possible the Class of 2003 Student Media Office (304).

•Gifts from the parents of the Class of 2003 have made possible the Class of 2003 Thelomathesian Rooms (301-302).

•And gifts from the Alumni Executive Council have made possible the Alumni Council Campus Room (332).

Most importantly in all of this, I need to say something about the critical role of the Alumni Executive Council's leadership commitment to this project. We were struggling with whether to proceed with this project when the Alumni Executive Council had its annual retreat at Canaras three years ago. Linda Pettit, now deceased and greatly missed, our Vice President for University Advancement at the time, took the Alumni Council through our dilemma. After some consultation and discussion during the retreat, the Council challenged all of us by making a major commitment to designate the gifts of its members to Campaign St. Lawrence for this project. When they did that, we then had a lead gift, and we had to move forward. Joe and Joan Richardson, within that group, made a wonderful leadership gift. So a special, special thanks to Joe, Joan, and the Alumni Executive Council. I'd like now to turn the podium over to Vice President and Dean of Student Life and Co-Curricular Education Cissy Petty, who also has some things she'd like to say. Cissy Petty.