The Burton D. Morgan Center at Denison is being designed to encourage the productive interaction of students, faculty, and alumni, said Denison President Dale T. Knobel in announcing the gift.

Under design by the Cambridge, Mass., firm of Graham Gund Architects, Inc., the Morgan Center will function as a prominent point of entry to the heart of Denison's hilltop campus. The structure will house an alumni center and related offices, a faculty common room, and facilities for Denison's Career Development Center and off-campus internships program. Internet-connected classrooms and meeting areas will enhance the college's growing inventory of technology-rich teaching and learning spaces.

The Morgan Center will especially encourage the engagement of Denison's alumni with students and academic programs, President Knobel explained. Academic departments and special initiatives like Denison's Organizational Studies Program, he noted, have found it beneficial to tap the expertise of Denison alumni who are found in many careers and leadership roles, and the Morgan Center will help expand these rich exchanges.

"We are excited about the jump start that the Burton D. Morgan Foundation gift gives to Denison's year-old Campus Master Plan," said Knobel. "This is an investment in our students, in our professors, and in our alumni that underscores the productive partnerships that are possible in a liberal arts college. I am pleased with the confidence that the Trustees of the Morgan Foundation have placed in us and have enjoyed the strong working relationship we have formed with the Foundation's President, John V. Frank."