The university announced Thursday that Dave Hoover '67 and Suzanne Hoover '67 donated a $25 million gift to be used for the creation of a new dining hall and an existing scholarship funds.
It broke a university record as the largest single gift in one day, according to President Brian Casey.
Sixteen million dollars of the donation will contribute to the construction of R. David and Suzanne A. Hoover Hall, a key part of DePauw's 2020 Campus Master Plan. The new dining hall will be located on East College lawn between the Union Building and Burkhart Walk.
The Hoovers imagine Hoover Hall as a campus focal point that will allow the Union Building to repurpose itself as a place for offices committed to student life and career planning.
"I would like to think that it's a place in the center of campus that will create community, that people will enjoy because it's a nice place to get together not just for meals, but for more meetings and events," Dave said. "Hopefully, it will enrich the experience students have here."
But the new dining hall is also an attempt to provide space for faculty who might find the already overcrowded space intimidating.
Casey stressed that donations like this do not happen suddenly - he spoke with the Hoovers almost weekly for the past year and a half about this donation.
Since the 2020 Campus Master Plan was approved by the board of trustees, the couple was intrigued about the possibility of the new dining hall, Casey said.
But getting the funding is the only beginning. Casey said that next several months will consist of conversations between himself, the Hoovers and Dick Vance - associate vice-president for facilities - about the best way to construct the dining hall.
He said an architectural firm will not be selected until the end of this fall and that there is a chance the university might break ground next summer.
Casey predicted that the total cost of Hoover Hall will be $20 million and says the university is having conversations with two or three other donors about designating smaller spaces within the building.
The current eating space - the Union Building - will become offices for the myriad of departments that already work within the building, including the Civic, Global and Professional Opportunities Office. Casey said the idea is for the space to become "a place where students can plan their lives."
The university has not yet received enough gifts to enact those changes to the building, according to Casey. The Hoover's donation will cover about 75 percent of the cost.
Casey said the Hoover's donation of the dining hall is based on their enthusiasm and love for the university, the students and the faculty.
"[The Hoovers] are not just interested in putting their name on a building," Casey said.
The remaining $9 million will go towards the couple's existing need-based financial aid scholarship fund, the R. David and Suzanne A. Hoover Endowed Scholarship Fund.
When Dave was a student at DePauw, he had a scholarship of $800 per year.
"[My scholarship] was the difference between going to a state school in Indiana and DePauw," Dave said. "I'm not sure I would have come here otherwise."
Sara Scully, student government president, attended the announcement of the donation at President Casey's house Thursday evening and said that everyone in the room was "incredibly excited."
"Students are going to be really grateful for this amazingly generous gift and what it will do to bring campus together," she said.
Casey emphasized that this donation is only the beginning of what he hopes will be many donations to complete the university's capital campaign.
"Hopefully, over next two years we will find donors interested in highest priorities of campaign," he said. "This is certainly not the last."
Dave is a past chair of the university's Board of Trustees and is currently co-chairing the university's committee for its current capital campaign. He is a director of Boulder Community Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado.
Suzanne is a former teacher and President of the Muncie Community School Corporation Board of Directors.
They currently reside in Boulder, Colo.
