The University of Nevada Las Vegas has received a $2.5 million donation to help pay for construction of a new academic building for the university's hotel college.
The university says the gift from Marriott International's J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation is one of several large donations that will support construction of the Harrah Hotel College's Hospitality Hall — a 93,000-square-foot, $59 million facility that will provide classroom, laboratory and meeting space, as well as a student-run café and a fully equipped executive kitchen.
“This building is designed to be accessible and collaborative, with open halls and common areas for students to interact with other students, educators and industry.," says Stowe Shoemaker, dean of UNLV's Harrah Hotel College.
Marriott joins other gaming and hospitality companies—Boyd Gaming, the Caesars Foundation, Konami Corporation, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts International and Station Casinos—in providing support for the campus expansion. They have helped the university raise $21.8 million of its $30 million private funding goal.
Groundbreaking is scheduled for March 2016, and officials expect to move into the building in fall 2017.
