The University of North Georgia (UNG) has officially received its first major gift for the new STEM building at the Dahlonega Campus from alumni Stewart Swanson, ’85, and Carol Barnette Swanson, ’86. The Swansons’ $3 million gift marks a major step toward UNG’s vision for a state-of-the-art STEM facility, also known as the STEM Excellence Center.
“In today’s rapidly growing economy, our region and state need college graduates who have a strong foundation in science, who can integrate information across disciplines, and who are critical thinkers and problem-solvers,” President Michael P. Shannon said. “This new facility is a top priority to serve future STEM students, and we are deeply grateful to Stewart and Carol Swanson for supporting our mission.”
The new STEM Excellence Center will replace Rogers Hall, which was built in 1948 and currently houses the physics and chemistry departments. The STEM Excellence Center will deliver the highest quality active-learning environment possible, which is essential to UNG’s plans to fully implement an innovative transdisciplinary STEM curriculum that allows all STEM students to work collaboratively across scientific disciplines in new flexible classrooms, laboratories and research areas.
A computer science graduate, previous ROTC cadet and now a recently retired technology sales executive, Stewart Swanson chairs the STEM Advisory Board for UNG’s College of Science & Mathematics and serves on the Board of Trustees for the UNG Foundation.