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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Dec. 12, 1995
Contact: Jacquelyn Savani (609) 258-5728
$8 Million Gift to Princeton to Honor Aerospace Pioneer James S. McDonnell
Princeton, N.J.--An $8 million gift to Princeton honoring aerospace pioneer James S. McDonnell of the Class of 1921 will be used to build a new state-of-the-art facility for the teaching of physics, the University announced today. The gift is from McDonnell's sons, James S. McDonnell III of the Class of 1958 and John F. McDonnell of the Class of 1960, and from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. The new building will provide a 21st century teaching and learning center for Princeton's renowned Department of Physics, where all three McDonnells studied as undergraduates at the University.
The new building will be named in honor of McDonnell, founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corp. which later became McDonnell Douglas Corp. Located at the heart of Princeton's physics and mathematics complex, the McDonnell building will be physically and aesthetically linked to the buildings where research in the two fields is conducted. Designed by noted architect Charles Gwathmey of Gwathmey Siegel and Associates, it will serve to establish, in this area of the Princeton campus, a major center for undergraduate learning in the sciences.
The McDonnell gift is among the keystone contributions to the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton, a $750 million fund-raising effort that was officially launched on Nov. 10. ``With their generous gift of this new physics building, so essential to the future of undergraduate teaching here at Princeton, the McDonnell family has once again led the way,'' said Princeton's President Harold T. Shapiro. ``The McDonnells' dedication to the excellence of Princeton's programs of education and research in the sciences gives us renewed confidence in the University's ongoing strength and distinction.''
Through the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the McDonnell family has given more than $18 million to Princeton in recent years. During Princeton's last major fund-raising campaign, their $7.5 million gift was used to establish six James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professorships--endowed professorships that have supported a remarkable group of teacher-scholars that includes three Nobel Prize winners and the current president of Northwestern University. And they have given more than $8 million to fund research by Princeton's Human Information Processing Group, which conducts research in cognitive science, expert systems and robotics, among other areas.
``We are delighted to make this gift to Princeton for the new Physics Building. Our father was a physics major at the University, and we are very proud that this exciting new facility--dedicated to teaching so many undergraduates--will bear his name,'' said John F. McDonnell, chairman of the board of McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell, who holds a B.S. and an M.S. from Princeton in aerospace engineering, served in a variety of senior positions with McDonnell Douglas before taking on his current responsibilities. Active in the St. Louis community, he serves as president of the board of trustees of the St. Louis Science Center, vice chairman of the board of trustees of Washington University, and chairman of The Planning board for the St. Louis Career Education District. He also serves as deputy chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank.
``During Princeton's previous campaign, the Foundation was pleased to endow the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professorships--held by a number of outstanding scholar-teachers. For the Anniversary Campaign, we thought that a physical memorial to our father, to complement the Professorships, would be appropriate; and we are excited by the plans for the Physics building that Professors Stewart Smith and Joseph Taylor have described to us,'' said James S. McDonnell III. He also holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Princeton as well as an M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A vice president with McDonnell Douglas until his retirement in 1991, he currently serves on the company's board of directors and on the boards of St. Louis Children's Hospital, the Missouri Historical Society, the Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, and Davis & Elkins College. He is also a member of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science Leadership Council.
The plans for the McDonnell building reflect both the strong tradition of physics teaching at the University, where some two-thirds of all undergraduates take a physics course during their four years on campus, and the latest insights into how sciences are best taught. The four-level structure, which will include lecture halls, classrooms, and teaching laboratories, has been designed for maximum flexibility and efficiency.
For example, to accommodate the demonstrations of physical phenomena for which Princeton's Physics Department is renowned--as in showing the effects of gravity by dropping objects from the ceiling or catapulting them across a lecture hall--the lecture rooms in the new facility are designed to facilitate large-scale demonstrations, with swing space allotted to allow for setup of equipment. And since most physics teaching at Princeton is now conducted in small, interactive class sections, the new building's teaching laboratories will include both laboratory benches and classroom areas. Students will be able to shift easily from laboratory work to group discussion of challenging problems to classroom teaching.
``Through the group dynamic, students learn to frame the questions that are crucial to their understanding of a given concept, and that's when a faculty member can take them to the next level,'' said Physics Department Chair A.J. Stewart Smith, Class of 1909 Professor of Physics. ``The McDonnells' gift will provide us with an optimum setting for carrying out our teaching program and for drawing students from across the disciplinary spectrum into this area of the campus.'' It is expected that the new building will bring twice as many students--primarily first- and second-year students--to the physics and mathematics complex.
Construction of the new physics building represents a key step in the expansion and modernization of science facilities on the campus. The University is committed to raising an additional $4 million for the new physics facility, among other fund-raising efforts of the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton. The total Campaign goal of $750 million includes both unrestricted support through the University's Annual Giving program and capital funds.