FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 30, 2003
CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119

DRAKE TO DEDICATE POMERANTZ STUDENT UNION THURSDAY

Drake University will dedicate The Marvin and Rose Lee Pomerantz Student Union in Olmsted Center at 11:45 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. The ceremony, which will be held on the stage on the west side of the new student union, 29th Street and University Avenue, will include festive music, balloons, free ice cream and an appearance by Spike, the Drake mascot.

Speaking at the dedication will be Marvin Pomerantz, chief executive officer of Mid-America Group Ltd., Drake President David Maxwell, David Miles, chair of the Drake Board of Trustees, and Martha Fung, Drake student body president, and Madelyn M. Levitt, a member of the Drake Board of Trustees. Pomerantz, who was voted Best CEO in the Des Moines Business Record’s Best of Des Moines 2003, and his wife, Rose Lee, made the lead gift for the $2.2 million renovation that has transformed the main floor of the 29-year-old Olmsted Center into a true student union.

The Pomerantz Student Union contains offices for student government, a new student activities office, a new D-Shoppe, conference room, lounge area, stage, radio station and coffee-smoothie café. The new facility also includes e-mail stations for students, new furnishings such as pool tables and electronic dart boards as well as new lighting, new flooring and a new east entrance to the building that overlooks Helmick Commons. In addition, new offices were created on the lower level of Olmsted Center for residence life and food service operations.

“Olmsted Center is completely different from what it used to be,” said Fung, a senior from Iowa Falls, Iowa. “The renovation is a great improvement that has fostered a real student union atmosphere at Drake, something we didn’t have before. It gives students a lot more options, more areas to check their e-mail, more Internet services on campus and a better place just to enjoy a cup of coffee with friends. I think the Pomerantz Student Union is a great addition to the Drake community. Students are really utilizing it.”

The Pomerantz Student Union was designed by the architectural firm of Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck. Graham Construction Co. served as general contractor for the project.