A List
2/28/00

SLU AWARDED EMERSON FOUNDATION GRANT

CANTON -- The Fred L. Emerson Foundation, of Auburn, New York, 
has awarded a two-to-one challenge grant of $500,000 to St. Lawrence 
University, to encourage an additional $1 million in private gifts 
and grants over the next three years.
	Specifically, the Emerson Challenge will support the 
construction of a fitness center, field house and transition building 
complex, which may begin as early as this spring. The grant supports 
Advantage Saints 2000, an initiative to attract private gifts to support 
a renewed commitment to athletic, recreation and fitness opportunities 
for today's and tomorrow's St. Lawrence students. In order to receive 
the $500,000 Emerson Foundation grant, St. Lawrence must raise $1 million 
in new gifts and pledges to the Advantage Saints 2000 program by 
November 1, 2002.
	Construction plans for the new athletics facility call for a 
130-station, glass-walled fitness center overlooking Weeks Field and 
the Merrick-Pinkard Track, and a field house with tennis courts and a 
200-meter indoor track. The new center, of approximately 102,000 
square feet, will be built adjacent to and connected with the Augsbury 
Physical Education Complex.
	The facility will provide space for St. Lawrence athletes, for 
students and faculty recreational users, and for community members of 
the Augsbury Health Club.
	"This generous challenge grant award from the Fred L. Emerson 
Foundation provides St. Lawrence with a powerful fund-raising tool that 
will help us to improve our athletics and recreation facilities over 
the next several years," said University President Daniel F. Sullivan. 
"At St. Lawrence, we believe that athletic competition, participation 
in recreational sports and physical fitness activities complement a 
liberal arts education. On behalf of the campus community, I want to 
thank the Emerson Foundation for this wonderful gift."
	The Fred L. Emerson Foundation established an endowed scholarship 
fund at St. Lawrence with a challenge grant of $250,000 awarded in 1984. 
That scholarship fund is now valued at more than $741,000.

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