We eat in the Pepsi Co. Plaza located on the first floor of Wilson Commons. We work out in the Bloch Fitness Center in the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center. We have classes in the Hubbell Auditorium. And, if you came on campus for a tour, you definitely went into the Admissions Office in Wallis Hall.
Some offices even have names, for example the Campus Times office is named for Jean Ann Brown.
Naming a building to honor the connection and contribution of someone to the university’s mission is an honor, Vice President for Institutional Resources Doug Phelps said.
He continued saying that there are no hard and fast rules for how much a donor must give to have something named after them. “Generally, the donor must contribute the majority of funds to build or renovate the building or facility. Ideally, they will also create an endowment to perpetuate the maintenance and operating costs of the building,” he said.The Goergen Center, which was completed in the fall of 2000, was named in honor of Robert B. Goergen, who donated around five million dollars to the 15 million dollar project.
Other factors are considered in naming a building as some buildings have been named for famous individuals and faculty.
UR isn’t unique in the race to honor its donors by naming things after them. In the United States, the custom of colleges naming things after donors dates back to 1636, when Massachusetts Bay Colony officials named their new college after its first benefactor, minister John Harvard.But the university won’t take money and just do anything. At two points in UR’s history, it was considered — and ultimately rejected — to name our school after a benefactor.
So, the easiest way to get a building named after you, is quite simply, to be a rich benefactor. But, if you’re poor, just be famous or a UR president. Those are tickets, too.
To learn more about the naming history of many of the buildings on campus, visit www.lib.rochester.edu/rbk/URArchives/buildings.htm.
