Murdough Center Dedicated
The Murdough Center at Dartmouth College, a modern, four-story brick and tinted-glass facility linking the Tuck and Thayer Schools, was dedicated and opened on June 22.
The $4.7-million, multi-functional complex, is named in honor of Thomas G. and Grace C. Murdough of Evanston, 111. Mr. Murdough, a 1926 graduate of Dartmouth, is retired vice chairman of the board of the American Hospital Supply Corporation.
The formal ribbon cutting and dedication ceremonies, scheduled for the outdoor plaza, had to be moved indoors when it rained Friday afternoon. In addition to remarks by the Murdoughs, others who spoke at the dedication ceremony and evening dinner were President Kemeny; Poet-in-Residence Richard Eberhart '26; John W. Hennessey Jr., Dean of Tuck School; and Carl F. Long, Dean of Thayer School.
Following the dedication, the 13 major donors and their families and guests toured the facility during which time the rooms given by the donors were opened.
The spacious Center has 42,000 square, feet of assignable space and includes a two- story, 50,000-volume library; a 358-seat multi-media equipped auditorium; three, 75-seat horseshoe-shaped classrooms; a large computer terminal room linked to the Kiewit Computation Center two blocks away; faculty offices, and student study rooms and lounges. It was designed by the architectural firm of Campbell, Aldrich and Nulty of Boston, with three of the four floors above ground and one below.
Planning for the Murdough Center began more than five years ago at a time when the deans of the graduate schools of business administration and engineering were independently preparing new educational space proposals. In early 1967, President Dickey suggested the unification of library facilities of the two graduate schools. A special study committee crystallized the building proposal while ad hoc committees of the faculty, administration, and students worked to refine space requirements now embodied in the completed Center.
Two major components within the Center are the two-story library named for Theodora L. and Stanley H. Feldberg '46 of Wellesley Hills, Mass., and 358-seat Cook Auditorium, the gift of four Dartmouth alumni, John Brown Cook '29, Harold C. Ripley '29, Robert J. Rodday '4O and E. Winston Rodormer '27, who are principal officers of Reliable Electric Co.
Mr. Feldberg, who is chairman of the Board of Overseers of Tuck School, is president of Zayre Corporation. The library, which will also display nearly 1,000 periodicals and be equipped with the latest microfiche storage and retrieval systems, will be shared jointly by the Tuck and Thayer Schools.
The Cook Auditorium is one of four amphitheaters surrounding a core of electronic and audiovisual equipment and will provide for the first time space for the student bodies of the two graduate schools to meet jointly. For three decades, the two schools have sponsored cooperative educational programs in which candidates have earned degrees from both schools, in concurrent graduate programs.
In addition to serving as a structural and academic link for the two graduate schools, the Murdough Center will also serve an important role in Dartmouth's programs for continuing education such as the Alumni College and the Dartmouth Institute, the latter a one-month program in the liberal arts and sciences for business executives and other professionals.
"It is a part of Dartmouth College's uniqueness that it provides the diversity of a major university and yet is small enough to allow for cooperation among the various faculties," President Kemeny said in his dedication remarks. "This important new facility will provide closer links between two of the professional schools and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and should be instrumental in allowing the cross-fertilization of ideas that is crucial for the welfare of an institution of higher education."
Formal dedication ceremonies took place in the 358-seat Cook Auditorium.
Thomas and Grace Murdough, for whomthe Center is named, shown with PresidentKemeny at the June 22 event in Hanover.
Theodora and Stanley H. Feldberg '46 atthe entrance to the Feldberg Library.
With the symbolic scissors that cut theribbon opening the Cook Auditorium arethe four Dartmouth men who were donors:Robert J. Rodday '4O, E. WinstonRodormer '27, John Brown Cook '29, andHarold C. Ripley '29, the principal officersof the Reliable Electric Company.
