"Red Letter Day at Saint Martin's" will celebrate new college facilities

Monday, September 6, 2004

Lacey, Wash. – Saint Martin's College will celebrate progress on several fronts Sept. 10, as it breaks ground on a new residence hall, and blesses recently completed student dining hall renovation and expansion.

Alumni and friends of Saint Martin’s are invited to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony, which will be at 5:30 p.m. at the college’s residence hall complex. Following the groundbreaking, a private dinner for members of the college’s top donor organization, the Martin of Tours Society, will be given. The dinner will include the blessing of the dining hall. The evening also will include a barbecue for resident students.

The new residence hall, planned to open in fall 2005, will be named for the college’s longest serving president, David R. Spangler, who will retire next summer. Spangler, a 1962 engineering graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, earned a doctorate in structural dynamics from the University of Illinois. He taught at both West Point and the U.S. Army Engineer School before joining Saint Martin’s as an engineering faculty member in 1982. He has served as the college's president since 1984.

The 46,000-square-foot residence hall will have space for 150 students. The residence hall project also will include renovations to the college’s Burton Residence Hall.

The college’s renovated dining hall and recently opened 112-seat addition, has received a formal name, that of St. Gertrude Dining Hall, in honor of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Gertrude Monastery, Cottonwood, Idaho. Located in the Old Main building, the dining hall has served students for most of Saint Martin’s history. Nuns from St. Gertrude’s operated the school’s kitchens and provided other services for Saint Martin’s from 1904 until 1954.

For more information about Red Letter Day at Saint Martin’s, please contact Gary Mulhall, director of institutional advancement, or Todd Monohon, director of development, (360) 438-4366.

For more information:
Deanna Partlow
Office of Communication
360-438-4541; dpartlow@stmartin.edu