From the JAYwalk
Record Philanthropy. Rebirth for the Library. Renewable Energy for the Campus.
Six alumni families give more than $50 million to renovate and reimagine OWU library. And OWU launches Ohio's biggest campus solar project.
April 25 was a day of epic announcements for Ohio Wesleyan— launching initiatives that will change how students live and learn.
First, the university raised a recordbreaking $50 million in just three months to fund a visionary, fine arts-infused library—and second, OWU is launching a public-private partnership delivering Ohio's largest onsite campus solar initiative. The two announcements stunned a packed crowd of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and local leaders at Day on the JAY.
"Closing Beeghly Library just days after I arrived proved a crucible moment for OWU," says President Matt vandenBerg. "What could have been a crisis instead became a defining chapter—one that inspired our community to dream big, act urgently, and innovate boldly. Thanks to a galvanized faculty and staff and a handful of visionary philanthropists acting in record speed, Ohio Wesleyan is completing an epic rebirth into a whole new realm of possibility."
The project will be a top-to-bottom, inside-out, full-scale renovation of the current structure, with a modern look and feel, vandenBerg says. The library will become a new icon of OWU's academic strength.
Largest Gift Ever
Alumni and trustees John Milligan '83 and Kathryn Bradford Milligan '83 spearheaded the library initiative by investing $20 million in the project—by far the largest gift in Ohio Wesleyan's 183- year history. In honor of their gift, OWU will name the facility the John F. Milligan Library.
"Kathie and I are very supportive of the efforts at OWU to create independent thinkers and leaders for the future," John says. "We know that today's students need learning facilities vastly different from the libraries of 60 years ago. We are thrilled to be able to support the dramatic redesign of the library to create a place for students and faculty to gather, learn, and constructively discuss ideas right in the heart of the campus."
We know that today's students need learning facilities vastly different from the libraries of 60 years ago.
Five additional donors made seven- or eight-figure commitments to elevate the total raised to more than $50 million: Michelle Mulkern Kilkenney '99 and Ryan Kilkenney; Fred Newton '80 and Bridget Donnell Newton '80; Thomas Palmer '69 and Susan Palmer H'23; Michael Payette '69; and Kara Trott '83. In addition, Jason Downey '02 and Elizabeth Long Downey '06 created an endowment to support programs in the facility and to maintain and modernize the building in perpetuity as needs and technologies evolve.
Expanded Study and Learning Spaces
The new John F. Milligan Library will transform the heart of campus into a world-class immersive learning, collaboration, and creative arts hub. The facility will include study areas, community-building spaces, high-tech classrooms, art studios and galleries, and lots of glass to showcase the building's warmth and light.
The project involves renovating and expanding the existing L.A. Beeghly Library. The library will grow by more than 10%, to 101,767 square feet. Highlights will include:
- The front entry will move west, and visitors will enter into a spacious twostory atrium. A second entry on the south side of the library, facing Park Avenue, will welcome the community.
- Students can choose from 300 study seats across the library in a variety of settings, including reader tables, booth-style seating, individual carrels, lounge areas, computers, and group study rooms.
- Classrooms and instructional spaces will provide an additional 240 seats.
- A glass façade wrapping the former portico will bring in natural light and visually open the space to the JAYwalk.
- General collection shelving will accommodate up to 150,000 volumes, along with dedicated, separate shelving for rare books and special collections.
- "Outdoor rooms" around the library will create open spaces that enhance campus life.
The university will break ground on the project this summer and open the completed Milligan Library in January 2027.
Dee Peterson, OWU's director of libraries, says she's grateful that the Milligans "understood and valued our vision for the library's future."
"They are investing in more than just a physical building," she says. "They are investing in connection—connection to resources, connection to library services and connection to others—all the elements that make a library whole. This new library space will not only allow us to showcase and grow these connections but also evolve the ways we contribute to the core of student and campus life."
OWU's Center for Fine Arts
OWU's fine arts faculty, studios, and classrooms also will relocate to the facility, which will include gallery and performance spaces.
"We're not just building an ordinary academic library," vandenBerg says. "We dared to redefine what a liberal arts campus looks and feels like by moving our fine arts program into the new facility and building the first fine-arts infused library in American higher education."
"Our concept takes liberal arts creativity and aesthetic sensibility from the metaphorical and physical periphery of campus and delivers it to the center of every student's experience."
Faculty will teach most art classes on the third floor, with studios for painting, drawing, photography, print-making, textiles, book arts, enameling, and more. Other art facilities will include a full ceramics studio on the first floor and digital arts studio on the lower level.
Moving Quickly
OWU will break ground on the project this summer and open the completed Milligan Library in January 2027.
New York City-based Perkins Eastman and Miamisburg, Ohio-based Levin Porter Architects are overseeing the work. Matt Franklin, president of Levin Porter, says his company is excited about the unique project.
"Our team of architects, planners, and engineers design academic library projects all around the country, and we think this is a one-of-a-kind library concept among American higher education institutions. The benefits of connecting the arts and library into one complex are endless," Franklin says. "Imagine heading to the library to study for a biology final and seeing an art student diligently turning a new piece on a ceramic wheel or watching digital content being created in a state-of-the-art studio."
"We're going solar!"
Also at the April 25 event, vandenBerg shared that OWU is taking a revolutionary step to become a solar powerhouse, entering into a public-private partnership with GRP Wegman to provide clean, solar power to the university at the most competitive market price.
When the project is completed, OWU will achieve a leadership position among Ohio's universities in carbon reduction, delivering over 82% reduction in carbon emissions associated with electrical power consumption on campus. The project is the most ambitious carbon reduction and onsite solar energy project in Ohio higher education history.
"With this agreement, Ohio Wesleyan is doing more than creating a better university; we're leveraging the university to create a better world," vandenBerg says. "OWU will join the vanguard of American universities in onsite renewable energy production, energy stewardship, and environmental innovation—all while saving tens of millions of dollars and addressing significant planned maintenance."
This innovative collaboration will bring a state-of-the-art 6-megawatt solar photovoltaic system and a 2-megawatt energy battery storage facility to campus and address campus infrastructure. The installation will generate 8.2 million kilowatt hours of clean energy annually on campus, while also providing both backup power capabilities and energy load-shifting opportunities.
The full environmental project to launch this fall requires zero capital outlay or borrowing from the university, fits within existing operational budgets, and shields the campus from exposure to rising utility rates.
Tim Bakker, chief operating officer of Bethalto, Illinois-based GRP Wegman, says, "OWU is a nationwide model for how organizations can be bold, take action on sustainability, invest in infrastructure improvements without upfront capital costs, and innovate responsibly for the benefit of current and future generations."
The campus project also will serve as a living laboratory for students, providing hands-on learning opportunities in renewable energy, sustainability, engineering, and advanced technology.
A committee currently is working to identify the best sites on campus to locate the solar panels, including roof, carport, and ground-mounted arrays. The work is expected to begin before fall and take up to 18 months to complete.
"Achieving this level of transformation with such speed does not happen through traditional thinking or incremental philanthropic support," vandenBerg says. "It happens when extraordinarily generous, visionary leaders step forward with investments and effort that match the magnitude of the moment."
About the Header Image
This architect's illustration of the John F. Milligan Library shows how the front façade will be replaced with glass, the current entrance will be enclosed, and a new, large patio will lead up to the new front entrance.