Evidence of progress on a construction of a new hall on the University of Washington Tacoma campus was evident during a visit this week. In August, university leaders broke ground on the new $12 million, 500-seat William W. Philip Hall, which is scheduled to open toward the end of 2008.
The building will be named after Philip, retired chief executive officer of Columbia Bank, and a long-time advocate for UW Tacoma. An endowment scholarship established in his name provides assistance to graduate students in Business Administration or Computing and Software Systems.
The hall will provide a highly visible entry to UW Tacoma and a venue for public lectures, community events, arts productions, and fairs. It will also be home to a student commons designed as the heart of the campus community, where students and faculty can gather for informal study groups and meetings.
Funding for Philip Hall came from several sources. James A. Milgard pledged $2 million, and requested that it be named after Philip in honor of his efforts in the founding of UW Tacoma. The State of Washington chipped in $7.5 million. And donations totaling over $4 million also helped complete fundraising for the project. Some of the donors include the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation, George and Dion Russell, Larry and Judith Kopp, Columbia Bank, the Ben B. Cheney Foundation, and The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation.
The general contractor for the building is John Korsmo Construction of Tacoma, and the architect is Thomas Hacker Architects of Portland, Ore.
Philip Hall, located at 1914 Pacific Avenue, will host a new lecture series aimed to draw nationally recognized speakers to UW Tacoma. The series will be funded by a gift from Arthur R. Paulsen, who earlier established the Arthur R. and Anna Mae Paulsen Endowed Visiting Chair in Public Affairs in hopes that future generations of students will be inspired to become creative thinkers and informed citizens.