Alumni Make Gifts Totaling $1.6 Million To Support New Life Sciences Building
October 31, 2001
University Park, Pa.—Penn State’s efforts to raise private funds for a new Life Sciences Building received an important boost in the form of three recent gifts totaling $1.6 million. Penn State alumnus Verne Willaman and his wife, Betty, committed  $1 million; alumni A. M. “Don” and Marion MacKinnon gave $500,000, and alumni Woodrow Hoch and his sister, Sylvia Hoch, each gave $50,000.

The Life Sciences Building will house interdisciplinary teaching and research activities related to fields as diverse as plant biology, neuroscience, and molecular toxicology. It comes in response to a growing awareness of the life sciences’ importance in solving some of the most fundamental problems of human existence. Years of steady growth in enrollment have resulted in about 5,000 Penn State students pursuing a variety of life science majors across several academic colleges.

In addition, the Life Sciences Consortium, formed in 1995, now includes about 500 faculty representing seven academic colleges. The consortium aims to encourage research alliances across disciplinary boundaries and develop new approaches to applications of basic science.

Verne Willaman, a longtime donor to Penn State’s Eberly College of Science, graduated from the University in 1951. He retired as an executive with Johnson & Johnson, the worldwide health products company, after 33 years of service. He has held a number of volunteer fund-raising leadership positions with Penn State. The Willamans live in Edwards, Colo.

Don and Marion MacKinnon of Fort Myers, Fla., are members of Penn State’s class of 1948. Don MacKinnon retired as president and chief operating officer of Ciba-

Geigy Pharmaceuticals in 1986. The MacKinnons’ previous philanthropy to Penn State has included gifts to the University Libraries and the College of Engineering.

Woodrow Hoch, of LaQuinta, Calif., is a 1942 Penn State graduate in chemistry. He retired as president of the Viscosity Oil Co., now part of Pennzoil. Sylvia Hoch graduated from Penn State in 1946 with a bachelor’s degree in home economics and worked for many years as a dietician with the Veterans Administration.

The 152,000 sq. ft. Life Sciences Building is expected to cost $44 million. It will be located along Shortlidge Road between the Thomas Building and Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. University funds will provide $29 million, and the University is aiming to secure the remaining $15 million from private donations.

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Contact:
Mike Bezilla (814) 863-4512 (work) (814) 238-5842 (home) mxb13@psu.edu
Laura Stocker (814) 863-4512 (work) (814) 237-2013 (home) lstocker@psu.edu