Gift will fund lecture hall in new Downtown Center

The University has received a $1 million grant for the University of Chicago Downtown Center from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation of Chicago. The gift will fund a theater-style lecture hall to be used for programs of the Center for Continuing Studies.

"The University of Chicago Downtown Center heightens the University's visibility in the city's corporate community, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to fund the lecture hall of the Center for Continuing Studies," said Neal Creighton, president and CEO of the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation. "We view the Downtown Center as an enduring resource for the city of Chicago."

"We are truly delighted with this gift and most appreciative of the generosity of the McCormick Tribune Foundation," President Sonnenschein said. "We want the University's Downtown Center to be a focal point in the intellectual and cultural life of the city, with classes, lectures, speakers and exhibits that will attract great public interest. The foundation's wonderful gift will help make this possible."

The grant is one of three $1 million gifts the Downtown Center has received since the start of the Campaign for the Next Century. The first two were made by the Amoco Corporation and First Chicago Corporation.

Scheduled to be dedicated in September 1994, the Downtown Center is located on the north bank of the Chicago River, just east of Michigan Avenue. The Downtown Center is the site of classes offered through the Center for Continuing Studies and is home to the part-time evening, weekend and executive programs of the Graduate School of Business. It opened for classes this quarter.

The building features state-of-the-art classrooms and includes a computer library that can be used by students and local businesses. The meeting and conference facilities will also be available in the future for use by area corporations.

The McCormick Tribune Foundation has made a number of gifts to the University, including funds to build the archway that connects Stuart and Rosenwald halls, an endowment for the business and economics collections of the Library, and endowments to establish the Robert R. McCormick Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Robert R. McCormick Professorship in the Graduate School of Business.