Fund raising focuses on Perelman Quad

Development and Alumni Relations staffers are shifting their focus to securing smaller donors for the Perelman Quadrangle, according to Joanne Hanna, director of development for the project. They are also attempting to get donations from their local areas, she said. Even University President Judith Rodin is getting in on the act. She pledged $50,000 in November to name a student meeting room in Houston Hall in honor of her father, Morris Seitz. Seitz was a Wharton alumnus. "Nothing would be more fitting than a student meeting room," Rodin said. "My father was very deeply proud of my involvements [at Penn], particularly my involvement in student government." Rodin donated her gift in recognition of her class' upcoming 30th reunion, which will take place this May, Hanna said. She announced the gift in her class' newsletter. Armed with a new informational brochure that includes plans for the Perelman Quad and a list of remaining donor opportunities, Development staffers will sell the project to potential donors "as they go through the country in their everyday work," Hanna said. "The brochure will be very helpful because it's a very complex project," she added. "I think it will help explain visually what is going on." And two weeks ago, the Development Office held a "development exchange program" where several different speakers briefed staffers on the project. Provost Stanley Chodorow spoke about the Perelman Quad's role in the 21st Century Plan, Hanna said. Rick Gresh, a 1995 College graduate and the undergraduate representative for Perelman Quad, and College senior Graham Robinson, former chairperson of the Student Activities Committee, spoke about how student groups use current facilities. The staffers also toured Logan, Houston and Williams halls, as well as Irvine Auditorium. An architect from Venturi, Scott, Brown and Associates, the firm designing the project, pointing out planned changes to the buildings. In addition to several remaining multi-million dollar naming opportunities, smaller areas are also available for naming, beginning at $25,000 donations. The family of Emily Sachs, who died tragically last summer after her freshman year, is giving $100,000 for the Emily Sachs Memorial Rehearsal Room, which will be built above the stage in Irvine Auditorium. The Chi Omega sorority, of which Sachs was a member, had a party last semester to raise money for the Emily Sachs Memorial Fund, which will help the family name the rehearsal room. "It's the least we could do to honor her and support her family," said Chi Omega President Katie Leeson, a College junior. Sachs was also a member of the Arts House Dance Company. The group donated the proceeds from one of their recent performances to the memorial fund. "We did it to remember Emily and to show our love for dance," said College junior Josephine Abragan, the group's budget coordinator.