This month, Adelphi University begins construction on its largest campus enhancement project since moving to Garden City back in 1929. Over the next three years, Adelphi will expand and upgrade classrooms, rehearsal and performance spaces and recreational and athletic facilities at its main campus.

The needed renovations and additions will enable the university to remain a valued community partner and fulfill its mission to prepare talented undergraduate and graduate students for a wide range of life pursuits while fostering a passion for knowledge and a commitment to service.

The Village of Garden City has approved the project and the university has selected Damon G. Douglas Company to manage the construction. Cannon Design is providing architectural and engineering services.

"If Adelphi is to remain one of the foremost private institutions of higher education in the region - known for the competence of its graduates, its strong programs and interdisciplinary orientation, its welcoming of the community onto campus and its impact on the broader society - it must evolve to better meet the needs of its current students and the community," Adelphi University President Robert Scott said. "These campus enhancements will help us ensure a bright future for one of New York's oldest and most dynamic institutions of higher education."

A new multiple building instructional, performing arts and recreation complex planned for the eastern side of the Garden City campus will enhance Adelphi's academic, artistic, athletic and recreational programs.

"With modernized classrooms, laboratories, rehearsal and performance spaces and recreational and athletic facilities, the complex will offer a much needed campus hub and gathering place for Adelphi's undergraduate and graduate student populations, as well as faculty, alumni and the broader Long Island community," Adelphi University Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Campbell '65 said.

The complex will encompass a complete renovation of Adelphi's historic Woodruff Hall gymnasium, which will be adapted for thriving academic programs in health and physical education and exercise science and will include approximately 76,000 square feet of new construction to house growing and increasingly successful athletics and recreation programs and host NCAA championship games and community events. Adelphi's Stiles Field will be relocated next to the new center, and will be resurfaced, lighted and redesigned to allow for below-grade parking.

A new performing arts center will include an upgrade and expansion of Adelphi's 31-year-old Olmsted Theatre as well as approximately 53,500 square feet of new space. The new center will offer needed performance, rehearsal and classroom space for highly regarded programs in theater, dance and music and will serve as a new cultural arts venue to be enjoyed by members of the Adelphi community as well as area residents.

The university will also replace the 32-year-old structure for its popular Child Activity Center with a new state-of-the-art center. The new center will be devoted to the education of preschool children from across the region and will be closely connected to Adelphi's well-known undergraduate and graduate programs in early childhood education, special education and psychology.

Garden City Mayor Gerard Lundquist, who attended last Monday's ribbon cutting ceremony for Adelphi's Fine Arts building, said he looks forward to the school's latest undertaking and the progressive work in this effort during spring and summer.

"The welcome new spaces will add further distinction to Adelphi's leading programs in theater, dance and music as well as in health studies, physical education, human performance science, early childhood education and parenting," Adelphi University Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Marcia G. Welsh noted. "They are crucial in enabling the university to continue to attract and retain the finest faculty and students."

Adelphi University Student Government Association President Robert J. Meekins '06 added, "A university education takes place as much outside the classroom as inside of it. The renovations, which will offer new spaces for formal and informal student meetings, cheering on Adelphi athletes and taking in world-class performances, mean an even livelier and more engaged campus and a deeper education for Adelphi students."

Initial construction on the project began this month with completion planned for 2008. The approximately $94 million project will be supported through an integrated funding strategy of private philanthropy, bond sales and New York State matching funds.