A $7.5 million gift toward the Schoonover Center for Communication’s construction was celebrated Thursday night, along with the Ohio University alumni who made the donation.
Faculty, administration, trustees, students, alumni and Schoonover family members thanked Steven and Barbara Schoonover as they mingled in a large, candlelit tent on the corner of South College and West Union streets.
About 120 attendees enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeuvres at Howard Park in addition to music performed by four flutists before leaving for dinner at the Margaret M. Walter Hall Rotunda.
At the celebration, Scott Titsworth, interim dean of the Scripps College of Communication, introduced the Schoonovers to the crowd.
“I can’t express how excited students and faculty are about this project,” Titsworth said. “We are certainly seeing the structure coming together, and I cannot thank the Schoonovers enough in supporting this educational institution.”
Steven Schoonover serves as CEO of Cellxion, LLC, a company specializing in the construction and installation of telecommunication buildings, equipment and towers, according to the Scripps website.
Schoonover said that when people do things for you, you have to give back.
“I am helping the university because by coming here, I got the skills for being a public speaker and skills to conduct research,” Schoonover said. “This university reaches out to the world and can converge people to work on ethics, and I think that OU can lead the way, and I want to be a part of it.”
OU President Roderick McDavis said he was eternally grateful for the Schoonovers’ donation.
“This is going to make a significant difference in what we see in the Scripps College,” McDavis said. “This is one of the major gifts of the Promise Lives Campaign, and it will be the first time that we bring the college together.”
Titsworth gave an update on the construction of the building and said that the demolition phase is over and an entirely new steel frame has been built.
The college’s dean’s office, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the School of Media Arts and Studies are expected to move into the facility in Fall 2013, according to the project’s website.
“The building is a primary example of their generosity,” said Lynn Harter, a Steven and Barbara Schoonover professor of health communication. “But they have supported the university in a multitude of ways by encouraging students and faculty to remain engaged.”
