With Reunion Weekend 2006 just a month away, the Office of Institutional Advancement asks members of classes ending in a ’1 or a ’6 to reflect on their College experience and to consider making a gift in honor of their class, their College, and our new president, Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. ’80.

Specifically, alumni in these classes are asked to consider helping the ongoing campaign to improve the teaching and learning environment on campus by donating to the Classroom Renovation Project.

Last summer, through the institutional advancement office’s Reunion Class Giving Program, eight classrooms were renovated with the help of funds donated by reunion classes. The classrooms—six in Albertus Magnus Hall and two in Harkins Hall—underwent extensive refurbishing.

All of these rooms now feature new instructor and student furniture; new chalkboards; multizone dimmable lighting; new floors, ceiling tiles, and paint; and state-of-the-art instructional technologies. The latter includes, in most classrooms, an instructor’s console with a centralized touch-screen system to control the room’s projection screen and lighting.

Each of the newly renovated classrooms is adorned by a plaque commemorating the class reunion funding program.

The transformation of these classrooms from traditional academic settings to vigorous new centers of teaching and learning was obvious in student surveys. Comments ranged from a general “great improvement on the classroom” statement to more elaborate ones. One student remarked, “This . . . classroom is both spacious and clean. The tables and comfortable seats were conducive to learning; the Smart Board was also helpful in clearly conveying the teacher’s notes.”

The institutional advancement office hopes members of this year’s reunion classes will rise to the occasion again and help set a new standard for reunion giving. To make a donation in celebration of your reunion, click here. For more information, contact Amy Bostock Laprey in the institutional advancement office at (401) 865-2252 or at abostock@providence.edu.