University of Richmond to hold cornerstone ceremony to kick off construction of Westhampton Center; facility will house expanded women's programs

October 22, 2008

University of Richmond will lay the cornerstone of its new $10 million Westhampton Center, an expanded facility for women's programs that will incorporate the historic Westhampton College Deanery, in a ceremony Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. outside of the Deanery.

When completed in fall 2010, the 9,900-square-foot center will include the renovated Deanery as administrative offices, linked by a loggia to a new structure housing a display of Westhampton College memorabilia, study areas, event space, and rooms for student programs and organizations, such as the Westhampton College Government Association (WCGA) and Women Involved in Living and Learning (WILL).

A $3 million grant from the Robins Foundation, along with gifts from more than 200 supporters including both Westhampton College alumnae and current students, already has raised around half the project's cost and allowed construction to begin. The cost includes a range of new co-curricular and academic programs to be offered upon the building's completion.

Westhampton College opened in September 1914 as the women's college of the university, offering higher education equal to that available to men at Richmond College. The faculties later merged, but the colleges retain separate identities, offering women and men their own student governments, co-curricular activities, residence life and special academic and personal development opportunities.