Also see:
UDaily
Experts
Current News Releases

For printable image click here. Louise and David Roselle UD photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

The University of Delaware's new Center for the Arts officially became the Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts at a ceremony and reception held on Sunday, June 3. More than 350 well-wishers filled the center's Thompson Theatre to honor the 25th president of the University and his wife in the last month of their 17-year tenure at the University.

Click here to see the video tribute screened at the ceremony.

On July 1, Patrick T. Harker, dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, becomes UD's 26th president.

Presiding over the ceremony, Howard Cosgrove, chairman of the UD Board of Trustees, welcomed guests to an event that would “officially name this remarkable center after two remarkable people--Louise and David Roselle.”

Cosgrove said the 91,000-square-foot performance and learning building has become a major crossroad for students of all disciplines and a home for theatre and music students and faculty since it opened last fall. “It is our hope that for many years to come, when we hear laughter in this building, we are reminded of Louise's embracing laugh, and, when we hear applause, we are reminded of David,” Cosgrove said.

The ceremony was followed by an unveiling in the lobby of a portrait of the Roselles painted by noted artist Peter Egeli.

The Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts houses a 450-seat Thompson Theatre, a Studio Theatre, which seats up to 150, a 200-seat Gore Recital Hall and the Puglisi Orchestra Hall, which seats up to 300, as well as 32 individual music practice rooms.

The 5,000-square-foot Puglisi Orchestra Hall is designed for multiple uses, including meetings, catered events and as a rehearsal space for the 300-plus-member UD Marching Band. Among the many performance-enhancing design features of the room are a curved ceiling to help disperse sound, as well as battered (angled) walls that direct sound upwards, acoustic draperies and the use of heavy materials to absorb sound. The structure rests on a floating neoprene pad and uses acoustic isolating joints to keep the music in the room and to provide an effective barrier to outside noises.

The lobby is capped with three glass sculptures topped with light monitors. Through a series of speakers and monitors, the lobby affords patrons an audio/visual connection to events taking place in the performance spaces. Also featured in the lobby is a décor that includes carpeted and hardwood floor surfaces, as well as a concessions area.

North of the Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts, what was formerly a parking lot has been transformed into a garden, with landscaping inspired by Mentors' Circle. The plant palette is similar to those used at Mentors' Circle and at Magnolia Circle on The Green.

The Louise and David Roselle Center for the Arts was built at a cost of $48 million, exclusively from private funds. Gifts to this campaign included $10 million from the Unidel Foundation and $500,000 from the University of Delaware Alumni Association. In all, there were more than 1,200 gifts from individuals and organizations. In addition to $28 million in gifts, the remainder of funding came from funds the University had at hand that were earmarked for the construction.

Media contact: Martin Mbugua, (302) 831-8749, [mbugua@udel.edu]
June 5, 2007