A $10 million gift from a school trustee will enable Bowdoin College to build an environmental studies center on its Brunswick, Maine, campus.
The school says The Roux Center for the Environment will bring together scholars and students from across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Construction is expected to begin in 2017, and the building would be opened in 2018.
A $10 million donation from David and Barbara Roux will help pay for the building. David Roux is a member of Bowdoin's board of trustees and is a cofounder, senior director and former chief executive officer of Silver Lake Group. Barbara Roux owns and operates St. Bride’s Farm in Upperville, Va., which focuses on horse breeding and training American show jumpers.
"Our gift is not about the building itself, but rather about the opportunities for the critical work that can be done there," David Roux says.
Bowdoin’s programs that touch on environmental issues include the departments of biology, chemistry, earth and oceanographic science, economics, government and legal studies, and history.
Preliminary plans call for a facility that provides new classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and an auditorium. The college's goal is to meet "the very highest" LEED standards for sustainable design and construction.
The architect selected to design the Roux Center is Cambridge Seven Associates.
