U alumnus and inventor of GORE-TEX gives $10 million for expansion of Amundson Hall
Ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony is Friday, Nov. 2
Contacts:
Matt Hodson, University News Service, (612) 625-0552, mjhodson@umn.edu
Rhonda Zurn, College of Science and Engineering, (612) 626-7959, rzurn@umn.edu
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/31/12) – The University of Minnesota officially announced today that Robert and Jane Gore have donated $10 million for the expansion of Amundson Hall, the home of the University’s highly ranked Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in the College of Science and Engineering. This donation builds upon a previous gift of $5 million received last December from Dow Chemical Company for the project.
Robert Gore received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1963. He is the inventor of the revolutionary fabric, called GORE- TEX®. He is the former president and CEO of W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., a company started by his father.
Gore and Dow Chemical Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer William Banholzer will attend an invitation-only ceremonial groundbreaking 2-4 p.m., Friday, Nov. 2, on the northeast side of Amundson Hall, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis. The event program begins at 2:30 p.m.
About 100 people, including business partners, University leaders, alumni, faculty, staff and students, are scheduled to attend the event. Those attending will see drawings of the building addition, hear about the impact of the expansion on research and student access, and witness the ceremonial groundbreaking.
Speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony include: University President Eric Kaler, University College of Science and Engineering Dean Steven Crouch, William Banholzer, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science head Frank Bates, and University Regent Patricia Simmons.
About the Amundson Hall expansion:
Construction will begin in early 2013 on a 40,000-square-foot expansion of Amundson Hall. The addition, named the Gore Annex, will accommodate expansion of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in response to increasing demand from highly qualified students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
The Gore Annex will include two floors below ground and four floors above ground. It has been carefully designed as a separate building with connections to the existing building on each floor to maximize space dedicated to research laboratories. The space includes 60 new hoods and offices for faculty, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students.
Gore Annex will also serve the growing undergraduate class, specifically with a new 3,000-square-foot materials lab outfitted with state-of-the-art materials testing equipment and new offices dedicated to accommodating meetings between small groups of students and teaching assistants.
The total cost of the project is $27.6 million, which includes the building expansion and upgrades to the current building. The project is funded by $15 million in donations, $5.6 million from the College of Science and Engineering for building projects, and $7 million in University Higher Education Asset Preservation and Restoration (HEAPR) funds from the state for upgrades to the current Amundson Hall building, including new windows overlooking the new light-rail station and other infrastructure improvements.
The University of Minnesota has been working with its architectural partners, Perkins+Will, and has selected Kraus-Anderson Construction Company as the general contractor for the future Gore Annex. The building, which features a striking extension cantilevered out over the mall facing the light rail line, is expected to be completed in mid-2014.