The contribution will serve as the lead gift for the renewal of Hamilton'sscience facilities, the most expensive building endeavor in the college'shistory.
"This leadership gift recognizes the affection Nancy Brown Wellin and herhusband Keith Wellin '50 have for Hamilton," said President Eugene M. Tobin."It is a critical step forward in reasserting our leadership position inundergraduate science education by providing committed teacher-scholars andintellectually curious and conscientious students with the facilities theyexpect and deserve.
"Experts across the nation recognize that an education in mathematics andscience is one of the fundamental components of a modern liberal artsexperience," Tobin added. "Hamilton welcomes the opportunity this giftprovides to embrace fully the prominent place of science in liberaleducation.
Although final plans have yet to be determined pending the completion of anaudit of Hamilton's science facilities, the need is clear: the ScienceBuilding was built in 1925 and renovated in 1965, and the Saunders Hall ofChemstry was built in 1903 and was last renovated in 1978. Since that time,undergraduate science education has undergone a tremendous transformation.Hamilton now needs a major overhaul of its science facilities to continue tokeep pace.
Renewed science facilities are the capstone of Hamilton's current fund-raisingcampaign. When The New Century Campaign was announced to the public inSeptember 1997, alumni and friends of the college had already committed $40million toward the $83 million goal. The nearly four-year fund-raising effortwill conclude on June 30, 2001.
Included in the campaign's record total are $31 million for student support,including $27 million for endowed scholarships; $14 million for facultydevelopment, including $9 million for six new named professorships; $18 millionto renew Hamilton's science facilities; $5 million for programs and facilitiesthat support the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, Hamilton's undergraduatepublic policy think tank; and $15 million in unrestricted annual giving overthe life of the campaign.
"In one form or another, every major goal of The New Century Campaign isdirected toward improving student quality and achievement," Tobin said. "Muchremains to be done, because our aspirations are great, but the response thusfar has been exceptionally encouraging."
The Brown Foundation has been a consistent supporter of Hamilton College andits students. In 1993, the foundation established an endowed scholarship fundfor students from Texas, with preference given to those Hamilton students fromthe Houston area.
Hamilton was originally a frontier school for native Oneida Indians and thechildren of early settlers; later it was an all-male college. Hamilton todayis a private, nonsectarian liberal arts college enrolling approximately 1,650men and women from around the country and the world.
