This article features Katherine D. Elliott, a member of the William Smith Class of 1966 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Finger Lakes Times, Geneva, N.Y.
Friday, May 6, 2005
By SUJATA GUPTA
A Hobart and William Smith Colleges graduate has pledged $1.25 million for a new studio arts building on the Houghton House estate.
The gift from Katherine D. Elliott, Class of 1966, is the largest personal contribution to HWS from a William Smith alumna.
Elliott has been a member of the board of trustees for seven years and is the chief operating officer of Petner Asset Management, LLC, a hedge fund where she specializes in investment management operations.
HWS President Mark Gearan said the building, which will be named in honor of Elliott, will house studios for printmaking, painting, drawing and metal casting/sculpture, plus more classroom space for the growing visual arts and architecture programs at HWS.
"Katherine Elliott's gift ... is an extraordinary opportunity for the Colleges to enhance our students' experience in the visual arts," Gearan said. "... we are most grateful for her dedication."
Michael Catillaz, the vice president for institutional advancement at the Colleges, said HWS administrators have been working for years to add a new arts facility and fix up existing ones.
He noted that fund-raisers for what's been dubbed the "studio arts project" have already raised about $3 million.
Construction is not likely to begin until they reach their goal of $4.5 million.
"No final decisions have been made about when to start construction, but fund-raising is ongoing," Catillaz said.
Ted Aub, the head of the arts and architecture departments at the Colleges, said plans for the new building have already been drafted.
"We're close on the general layout and the look of the building, [but] the final design isn't really complete yet," Aub said, noting that students, faculty and staff have all contributed to the effort.
"There has been quite a bit of student input. Students have designed their own building concepts as part of their architecture course," said Aub, who thinks Houghton House has needed a facelift for quite some time.
"The rooms are too small. They're depressing. It's dark. It can be dank. Our students really deserve better than being taught in the basement of a building," Aub said, noting that both photography and printmaking facilities are below ground level.
"We've had the carriage house, of course, which is pretty good for studio space," he added.
With student enrollment in the arts expanding, faculty members say they are forced to hold drawing classes in the dining room and gallery.
"We need the gallery space," Aub said, noting that enrollment in the various arts programs has jumped from about a dozen students to over 40 since he started more than two decades ago.
Aub's colleague Rick Hauser, an assistant architecture professor at HWS, said he's excited that this project might actually be completed sometime in the near future.
During Elliot's time on the board of trustees, she has served on the Enrollment Management, Education and Appointments, Investments and Student Life committees during her tenure with the Board.