Construction is underway on a $4.5 million, 18,390 square-foot academic support center at the University of Wisconsin — Whitewater.
The three-story building, called the Mary Poppe Crisman Success Center, is expected to open in fall 2017 and will house tutoring and supplemental instruction services.
Construction began in May.
The project is being paid for through a donation from UW-Whitewater Alumnus Byron Chrisman, who requested the building be named after his late wife, Mary Poppe Chrisman.
“My primary motivation for wanting the building named after Mary was that she loved teaching,” Chrisman said in a statement released by the university in June. “And she very much appreciated her experience at Wisconsin State College-Whitewater, as it was called at the time.”
Byron Chrisman received a bachelor’s degree in business from the university in 1959. Mary Chrisman received a bachelor’s in mathematics in 1957. Mary Chrisman taught high school math before becoming a computer programmer for the national Bureau of Standards and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Generous gifts such as this one allow us to reach beyond our current capacity to help students thrive academically,” said Chancellor Beverly Kopper. “Our vision is that the Mary Poppe Chrisman Success Center will enhance the exceptional learning environment students already experience and support them in their success on campus and beyond.”
