The two largest gifts in the history of Calvin College will finance construction of two major new Centers at the Christian liberal-arts college. A new Center for Communcation Arts and Sciences and a new Conference Center will be built with contributions from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation -- each of which has committed $10 million to the projects over the next five years for a total of $20 million.

Both Centers -- tentatively named the DeVos Center for Communication Arts and Sciences and the Prince Conference Center -- will sit side-by-side and be part of an integrated complex of buildings Calvin plans to construct east of the East Beltline and north of Burton Street, beginning in late 2000 or early 2001.

The Centers will be the first two phases in the construction of a larger complex that may eventually include a new performing arts facility. The plans also call for an enclosed pedestrian bridge over the East Beltline, infrastructure construction and additional parking.

"The DeVos and Prince families are long-time supporters of Christian education," said Calvin College president Dr. Gaylen Byker. "Their support of these two new ventures means a great deal to all of us at Calvin. We are very grateful."

Elsa Prince, a member of the Calvin Board of Trustees and a 1954 Calvin graduate, said that "the Prince family sees this gift as a response to God's blessings and wants to have these resources used for God's glory. We are excited about these new undertakings at Calvin." Richard DeVos, a 1947 Calvin alumn and winner of the school's 1982 Distinguished Alumni Award, and wife Helen, a 1947 Calvin graduate, added: "We are happy to join the Prince family in supporting Calvin's newest expansion, which will provide facilities where more young people, our future leaders, can be trained in the art of communications in the context of a Christian perspective."

Calvin's Communication Arts and Sciences Department, ranked among the best in the country, will take a leap forward with the new Center, which calls for facilities for TV and radio training and programming as well as Internet media applications. "This Center will significantly impact our already strong and dynamic CAS Department," said Byker. "It will draw students who want to study communication from a Christian perspective and will position the college for a major leadership role in important new communications fields. It also will attract Christians from around the globe for scholarly and practical experience with various media."

The new Conference Center will feature meeting rooms, dining facilities, a large auditorium and guest rooms. It will focus on academic conferences involving Christian scholarship and Christians in the professions, Christian ministry groups (such as those which might come to the Center for Communications for training) and church groups.

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