$10 million donation will help create gateway for University of Wyoming campus

Philanthropist Marian Rochelle is donating $10 million to the University of Wyoming to help build a state-of-the art Gateway Center that will become the signature entrance facility to the university.

The 60,000-plus-square-foot facility will be named the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.

“The Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center is a culmination of my mother’s philanthropic gifting to the University of Wyoming,” says Rochelle’s daughter and fellow philanthropist, former state Sen. April Brimmer Kunz. “The Gateway Center is symbolic of the many doors she has opened to education for our students. It also will provide a wonderful entrance to the University of Wyoming that will be the crown jewel of the campus.”

The Gateway Center will be funded completely through private support and UW Foundation reserve dollars and will be gifted to the university.

The project is a partnership among the UW Foundation, the Alumni Association, the Center for Advising and Career Services, and Admissions. It will contain office and collaborative space for these units as they support and promote the university, the university says in a news release.

The facility will be a multi-use location with a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure, small and large meeting rooms, and public and social event spaces. The center will also include museum-quality space to commemorate the history of the university with pictures and displays and exhibitions that honor the school's impact on Wyoming. The story of Wyoming’s energy also will be told through displays and interactive technology.

The center is being designed by Cheyenne-based Pappas & Pappas Architects, and DLR Group, a firm with offices across the United States. Advent will design exhibit and museum spaces in the center. The manager at risk is Haselden Construction.

Construction is scheduled to begin in late spring 2013, and the facility is scheduled to open in 2014.

Including this gift, Rochelle has donated $18.152 million to the university, making her the institution's largest donor ever.