Donations of $21 million will fund renovations and other Allegheny College improvements

Valerie Myers, Erie Times-News
·2 min read

MEADVILLE — Gifts totaling $21 million will help Allegheny College renovate buildings, provide matching funds for future donations and seed a student investment fund.

The gifts include $16 million from Patricia Bush Tippie, a 1956 Allegheny graduate and trustee emerita, and $5 million from an anonymous donor.

"We're very excited. This will be game changing for us in many ways," said Allegheny College President Ron Cole.

Tippie is giving $10 million to renovate Brooks Hall, an early American-style residence hall completed in 1940 to accommodate a growing number of female students. The building this year houses 100 students in units accommodating one to four residents.

First-phase work on the building beginning this summer will include replacing its electrical system and adding an elevator and air conditioning, Cole said.

Second-phase construction, currently in the planning stage, will include renovations or reconfiguration of living spaces in the building. It's too soon to say what that will look like, Cole said.

"I envision that we will maintain flexible living space," he said.

Another major Meadville employer: Channellock Inc. is an industry leader in hand tool manufacturing

Sorority suites and a commuter lounge currently located in the building will remain there, Cole said.

The college will raise an additional $10 million for the project.

Tippie also has made a five-year, $5 million commitment to provide matching funds for the college's annual Gator Give Day fundraiser and is giving $1 million to endow a student stock market investment fund in the college's Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics.

Part of the lobby area of the Patricia Bush Tippie Alumni Center is shown prior to the center's 2005 dedication.
Part of the lobby area of the Patricia Bush Tippie Alumni Center is shown prior to the center's 2005 dedication.

The $5 million gift from an anonymous donor will revamp Reis Hall to house the college's Center for Interdisciplinary Students and the Allegheny Lab for Innovation and Creativity, created in 2019 to provide design and fabrication resources needed for product development and other creative projects.

Tippie and her late husband, Henry Tippie, previously gave $5 million to renovate Cochran Hall as the Patricia Bush Tippie Alumni Center and made a number of other contributions to the college.

Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Allegheny College: Donors give $21 million earmarked for improvements