SELINSGROVE, Pa. -Susquehanna University President Joel Cunningham announced today that its new football and track stadium will be named for Nicholas A. Lopardo, vice chairman of State Street Corporation in Boston, Mass., and chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Global Advisors. The stadium, scheduled for construction between November 1999 and August 2000, is part of a $14 million renovation and expansion of sports and fitness facilities at Susquehanna University.

"We are grateful to Mr. Lopardo for making a substantial financial commitment to the sports and fitness complex, which has made a critical difference in moving this project forward," said Cunningham. "His commitment to Susquehanna students reveals itself in many ways - through his leadership on the University's board of directors, the Sigmund Weis School of Business Advisory Council, and also as employer and mentor to Susquehanna students. We are deeply grateful for this latest manifestation of his love for Susquehanna."

A 1968 graduate of Susquehanna and a member of the University board of directors since 1992, Lopardo played football and baseball while he was a student at Susquehanna. He was inducted into Susquehanna's Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and on June 5, 1999, was awarded Susquehanna's Alumni Award for Achievement during Alumni Weekend activities. "Sports have been the most important contributor to my ability to successfully compete in the business world," he said. "I think anyone who participates in athletics will benefit from engaging in those types of competition somewhere in the future."

Lopardo's gift commitment to the Susquehanna 2000 capital campaign exceeds $1.5 million and includes support for the University's new high technology center for business and communications opening this August. His support for the sports and fitness complex recognizes the project's importance to campus life overall - not just to varsity athletics.

"Facilities like these are what our 'customers' - our prospective students and their families - are looking for when they visit campus," he said. "A pre-med student wants to see the new science building and its modern labs, knowing that the resources are in place to prepare him or her for the future. A business student has to be excited by the new business and communications building and the technology it's going to bring to Susquehanna. And I think in much the same way, students want to see a field house - a place where they will devote some of their out-of-classroom hours whether they're varsity athletes, fitness enthusiasts, intramural participants, or spectators."

The athletics project will include renovation of existing facilities and two additions - a fitness center to be constructed as a west addition to Houts Gymnasium, and a field house and connecting link to be constructed on the east side. The field house addition requires construction of a new football/track stadium on the site of the current baseball field and creation of new baseball and practice fields. In addition to the sports and fitness complex, other priorities in the University's $42 million campaign include increasing the endowment and strengthening the annual Susquehanna University Fund. Other building priorities, including a new student housing complex and the new business and communications center, have already been funded by campaign gifts. --br--#2259--

Last updated March 14, 2000 Chad Emerich, Office of Public Relations ©1999 Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA 17870 Phone: 570-372-4119   Fax:570-372-4048