Kresge Foundation Pledges $1 Million Challenge Grant

The Kresge Foundation has announced a $1 million challenge grant in support of California Lutheran University’s new Sports and Fitness Center, which will be built on the university’s North Campus.

The challenge grant comes as CLU nears the end of its comprehensive $80 million Now is the Time campaign to enhance the academic and athletic facilities of the university and establish new programs, centers, professorships and scholarship endowments. To receive the $1 million challenge grant, CLU must raise the remaining $4.1 million needed to construct the Sports and Fitness Center by June 1, 2005.

“The Kresge Foundation is one of our nation’s foremost supporters of independent higher education and is particularly known for its rigorous standards and commitment to building long–range institutional strength,” commented Luther Luedtke, CLU President. “Its affirmation and participation in the development of CLU are greatly appreciated.”
The university’s Spies–Bornemann Center for Education and Technology, which was dedicated in 2002, was also supported by a generous Kresge Foundation grant. Designed to promote teaching with technology, the Center boasts a distance learning classroom, television studio, model laboratory and offices for the School of Education and Communication faculty.

The new 96,000–square–foot Sports and Fitness Center will house two major gymnasia, an events center, fitness center, dance studio, classrooms and labs, sports medicine facility, faculty and coaches offices, and a sports hall of fame. Though work has already begun on the North Campus, a formal groundbreaking ceremony is set for Friday, Oct. 22, at 11 a.m. Construction updates and photos are available on the CLU Web site at www.clunet.edu.

Other new sports venues planned for the North Campus include the George “Sparky” Anderson baseball stadium, the Samuelson Aquatics Center, soccer fields, a football stadium, softball field, track and tennis courts.

The Kresge Foundation, an independent, private foundation created by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge, makes grants to institutions operating in the areas of higher education, health and long–term care, arts and humanities, human services, science and the environment, and public affairs.