GENEVA — Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ new science center will be named in honor of a couple that has donated $25 million toward the project, officials announced Friday.
HWS said the The Fish Center for the Sciences, which has an estimated construction cost of $53 million, is named for Honorary Trustee Cynthia Gelsthorpe Fish, a 1982 William Smith graduate, and her husband, John Fish.
The Colleges said the contribution “will support the construction of a new building that will provide physical facilities that allow for collaboration across disciplines and that match the sophistication of HWS’ science curriculum.”
The science center has been a priority of the Colleges’ fundraising effort, “Further Together: The Campaign for Our Third Century.”
“I made the gift because it was needed,” Gelsthorpe Fish said in a new release. “The Hobart and William Smith science departments have consistently delivered an excellent education to thousands of burgeoning scientists and enhanced the thinking of a wide variety of students. Science is a key component of a liberal arts education, and the opportunity to learn in a lab and gain exposure to scientific methods changes your learning and thinking forever. Your aperture widens.”
According to HWS, Gelsthorpe Fish said she was influenced by a lab course she took as part of her psychology major at HWS.
“It introduced me to the fundamental requirements of an experiment — from having a hypothesis to then challenging that theory through variable testing,” she said. “Unless it’s scientifically proven, it’s just a theory. I very much believe that the disciplined search for measurable truth is a core value of a liberal arts education.”
HWS President Mark Gearan expressed appreciation to the couple.
“I am grateful to Cyndy and John Fish for their remarkable philanthropy that is making this new center for science possible and that will serve all students no matter their field of study,” he said. “Cyndy’s commitment to Hobart and William Smith over many years as a member of the Board of Trustees has always demonstrated principled leadership that is focused on students and that creates community. Through this gift, Cyndy and John will realize a longstanding priority — a science center that honors our liberal arts and sciences curriculum, providing students access to a world class, 21st century education.”
At nearly 40,000 square feet, the new building will occupy the south end of the Hobart Quad, adjacent to Rosenberg and Napier halls, and draw architectural inspiration from Coxe, Medbery and Williams halls, HWS noted. The interior will offer four floors of classrooms, labs, faculty offices and instrumentation and equipment spaces that will help unify STEM teaching, learning and research on campus. The project is being led by Suffolk Construction, a Boston-based construction firm with extensive experience designing and building complex facilities, including higher education science buildings, the Colleges said. John Fish is the company’s founder, chair and CEO.
HWS noted that all of HWS students fulfill at least one academic goal/class in the sciences, while 41% of the Class of 2024 graduated with a major or minor in the sciences. Alumni go on to some of the best graduate schools in the nation and have careers in research, medicine and technology, the Colleges said.
“We have benefited tremendously from John Fish’s attention to this project,” Gearan said. “He and the Suffolk team have been focused on understanding what our faculty and students need and then delivering ideas that are responsive to our objectives but that also push our thinking.”
Gelsthorpe Fish hopes the Fish Center for the Sciences will “reinforce community, relationships and bonds by bringing different forms of learning and thinking together to understand scientific ways to leave the world a better place.”
According to HWS, $32.5 million has been raised toward the estimated $53 million project cost. An additional $6 million in endowment funds has been committed to the project for additional expenses associated with the building.
It’s not known when HWS will begin construction on the facility.
“I hope we will inspire others to step forward and help to complete this important project,” Gelsthorpe Fish said.
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