To offer recognition to the original family of a $10 million donation made in 2011 toward renovations of the Science Hall, completed in 2016, Saint Mary’s College hosted a renaming ceremony Friday morning and presented the new title of the building as Mathile Science Hall. The Mathile family’s donation is considered the largest single private gift in the College’s history.
According to an email invite to faculty and staff from College provost and vice president Megan Zwart, the name change “is in honor of Clayton and MaryAnn Mathile, along with their daughter, Jennifer Mathile Prikkel ’95.” Prikkel, a member of the board of trustees and tri-chair of the upcoming capital campaign, Ring Out Ring True, was recently recognized as a benefactor of the newly established Prikkel Advising, Career and Experience Center after making a separate multimillion-dollar gift.
Zwart provided context for the Mathile family’s gift from 2011 in the invite by stating the donation led to the “expansion and upgrades to biology and chemistry labs, a dedicated floor for our physics department, as well as a greenhouse to support environmental science and plant biology.”
The Mathile name was originally not recognized in the Science Hall’s renovations at the family’s request. According to director of communications Lisa Knox, however, conversations reopened during the finalizations of the PACE Center. The specific timing of the ceremony also coincided with the board of trustees’ March meeting, which occurred this week, and ensured the presence and recognition of outgoing trustee Mike Mathile.
College President Katie Conboy offered a brief history of the building as part of her remarks. After a fire resulting in the destruction of previous science laboratories located in Holy Cross Hall, the original Science Hall building was completed in 1955. Science Hall received its first set of renovations between 1985 and 1987, which doubled the size of the building, allowed greater space for growth in enrollment at the time, and facilitated expansion into new areas of scientific study. The renovations completed in 2016 helped the College further expand the “level of research, collaboration and technological sophistication that modern science required,” according to Conboy.
“We are especially grateful that the Mathile family has now allowed us to name the building in their honor. We can fully recognize their extraordinary generosity and the values that inspired it,” Conboy said during the ceremony. “Clay and Mary Mathile built a life guided by humility, generosity, hard work and a belief in helping others succeed. Those values continue today through their children and grandchildren. We are fortunate that Saint Mary’s is part of that legacy.”