October 24th is the grand opening of the University of Wyoming’s new Gateway Center, which will serve as a "front door" to the university for new students and families.
The thirty-five million dollar facility will house UW’s admissions office, career services, alumni association and the UW Foundation, which secures private donations for the school. The Foundation’s President Ben Blalock says the building has had significant help from many prominent UW alum and other Wyomingites. Blalock says the private funding was crucial.
"It’s all privately funded," says Blalock. "It was very important to us with this project; I mean the state of Wyoming has put billions of dollars into the university through the decades and private contributors have put hundreds of millions into the university through the decades. This particular project though was not the type of project we felt we could even begin to request state support for."
Blalock expects the facility will help recruit students and athletes. The Center will be open to the public with a wide variety of Wyoming and University history on display. It is located on the South-East corner of campus.