When Oglethorpe University embarked on a $20 million philanthropic campaign to develop the I.W. “Ike” Cousins Center for Science and Innovation under former President Larry Schall’s leadership, alumni and friends from across the campus community came together to realize this vision.
Donors contributed gifts of all sizes to collectively reach this goal and complete a transformational renovation of Goslin Hall into a state-of-the-art facility to meet the needs of students and faculty in the 21st century.
Since the new space opened in 2019, Oglethorpe has been able to enhance undergraduate research opportunities and offer students greater access to hands-on experiences, thanks to the generosity of so many.
Today, this facility is an integral part of Oglethorpe’s campus: a home for the sciences, a learning space for the Hammack School of Business, an incubator for cutting-edge interdisciplinary learning that engages the whole campus, and a collaboration space for students pursuing a variety of academic subjects.
The classrooms and gathering spaces housed within the beautiful exterior accommodate emerging and yet-to-be-imagined initiatives focusing on invention, creativity, and entrepreneurship. The learning spaces leverage the connections between disciplines, accelerating what Oglethorpe students learn as undergraduates.
“Those who invested in this campaign have made experiences possible for students that simply wouldn’t be possible without this space,” says Interim President Kathryn McClymond. “Students can see themselves as scientists in a research lab, making discoveries with colleagues, and they can do this surrounded in a liberal arts environment where they are prodded to ask bigger questions.”
To showcase the tremendous impact of this campaign on the university today, the video above and a digital publication were recently developed and shared with donors, highlighting the ways in which this facility fuses learning and innovation.
