Webb Family Gives Generously to HPU
High Point University has received a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor that will support a new undergraduate sciences school and building. Construction on the facility will begin in summer 2017.
At $60 million, the undergraduate sciences facility will accommodate growth in majors including biology, chemistry and physics. A dean will be hired to facilitate the expanding sciences held within the new school. The building will also house a state-of-the-art planetarium and will include an adjoining conservatory. These programs complement HPU’s new graduate programs in physician assistant studies, pharmacy and physical therapy.
It will be located next to the $120 million Congdon School of Health Sciences and Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy. A facility to house those schools is currently under construction and will open in late spring.
“High Point University has strategically focused on enhancing academics, facilities and student programming tremendously in the last decade, and philanthropic supporters have noticed our distinguished learning model,” says Dr. Nido Qubein, HPU president. “We are grateful for this gift and support of individuals who have joined us in our mission to prepare students for the world as it is going to be.”
“Undergraduate sciences have become one of the largest majors at HPU and reflect our commitment to extraordinary academics,” says Dr. Dennis Carroll, HPU provost. “This new facility and new academic school will reflect the demands of 21st century careers like all programs on our campus.”
In the last 11 years, HPU has tripled its enrollment, quadrupled the size of its campus and has been the beneficiary of 12 gifts of $10 million or more each.
The latest expansion includes academic, community, athletic and residential life facilities that accommodate the university’s enrollment growth, as well as the number of students flocking to HPU to study undergraduate sciences. Biology is the university’s third largest major, and exercise science is the fourth largest major.