Resch Science and Technology Hall will Give Graceland a 'State-of-the-Sciences' Facility

Richard J. "Dick" Resch

The one-on-one, personalized attention science, mathematics and technology students receive at Graceland today from our talented faculty - as yesteryears' students gleaned from professors like Platz and Mortimore and so many others - will now work in tandem within a best-in-the-Midwest sciences' showplace.

The creatively transformed building will be called the Resch Science and Technology Hall to honor Richard J. "Dick" Resch and his family. Resch recently provided a $3 million capstone gift which, united with funds raised during the Graceland Forever Capital Campaign, will provide superb infrastructure and industry-standard equipment, the winning mix to attract outstanding students and exceptional faculty. This historic commitment to academic excellence will lift Graceland to the private-university pinnacle in study of the sciences.     

Dick Resch is a 1958 pre-engineering graduate who has good memories of his classes in what was then the fairly-new Platz-Mortimore Science Hall. He would like his family to be honored also with the building's naming. His deceased parents were both Graceland graduates: Clifton Resch '33 and Lois Hatch '32 Resch. His grandmother, Vinnie Rudd, was a House Mother in the very early years of the Independence, MO Sanitarium and Hospital Diploma School of Nursng.

Dick is president and CEO of KI, an industry-leading, award-winning furniture manufacturer with 3,000 employees worldwide. You'll find KI furniture in GU's Helene Center for the Visual Arts and it will adorn Resch Hall. To say that Dick is a self-made man is a true understatement. At age 37 he put everything he had on the line and managed a leveraged buyout of KI (then Kreuger Metal Products). Since then he has always eyed the ‘long view,' never looking back. Fiscal discipline, worker education and community responsibility have been his life-long guideposts.

Dick last visited GU for Homecoming 2003 when he received our most prestigious recognition, the Distinguished Service Award. Homecoming 2008 will mark Dick's 50^th Honor Year Class reunion and he plans to be back on "the Hill."

A donor wall of fame is to adorn the beautiful, high-glass lobby of Resch Hall, along with the existing bronze plaque honoring Professors Platz and Mortimore. So many donors, with gifts large and small, have made Resch Hall possible. Even the 2008 graduating class donated nearly $1,500 for student lounge furnishings.

That brings us to the building itself and what is going on right now. Newly-appointed Director of Facility Services Kurt Remmenga, Grounds Chief Bob Kelly and their crews of employees and 20 student workers began May 19^th, the day after Commencement, and in less than a month they removed everything from the building except the walls. It will now be the work of contractor J.E. Dunn to transform architectural firm Gould Evan's design, shooting for the expected move-in date of fall 2009.

Science faculty members heroically packed up their office and lab equipment and they have helped with the moves to temporary quarters in the basement of the Frederick Madison Smith Library (Computer Science and Information Technology), Zimmermann Hall (Mathematics) and the ‘North Science Hall,' a former group home just north of campus (Chemistry and Biology.) Huge amounts of furniture and equipment have been stored in a building downtown Lamoni owned by GU Board Chair Ken McClain. Academic year 2008-09 science classes held around the Lamoni campus will be a supreme challenge, but according to Science and Math Division Chair Dan Pratt, "We are up to it. Faculty comraderie has been inspiring." Pratt said faculty members are "focusing on making this a great year for students, despite the obvious hardships. And, my colleagues are very excited about moving into Resch Hall next year."

The transformed building will be a marvel of planning (faculty played an integral role), designing and engineering. Everything - wiring, plumbing, A/C and heating - will be removed. "Alumni will not recognize the building," said Remmenga, "inside or out. Absolutely everything will be new!" Indeed, the sleek, futuristic building is going to take you by surprise. You can take a peek at Homecoming this October but it will take a year from then for the total makeover.

A significant gift from Dick Resch in 2002 brought to life a long-sought arena in Green Bay, now home to the Green Bay Gamblers hockey team, the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team and myriad entertainment events. The beautiful, two-story, glass-front edifice is truly an awesome sight. It is named the Resch Center. Dick and his wife Sharon live in Green Bay.

When Dick is back for Homecoming he wants to take a look at Platz-Mortimore and envision the new Resch Hall. If you see the magnificent Resch Center in Green Bay, then peek at the architect's rendition of Resch Hall at GU, there are instant similarities, like the imposing glass fronts. "It's the contemporary style of architecture I like," Dick said. "There will be lots of light. Besides the beauty it will cut down on power use." KI is a leader among manufacturing giants in global support of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for construction.  

An atrium lobby in Resch Hall will lead you down a row of spacious, glass-front faculty offices. "This will promote great collegiality," Pratt says proudly. Classrooms and labs will be ultra modern. There will be student lounges with an internet-café feel. Special ID cards will provide students 24/7 access to the building. Ackerley Scholars will explore the Computer Science world through technologically-amazing ‘StarLine' electrical conduit. Airflow and ventilation are to be critical priorities, says Remmenga, and lab airflow will operate through separate systems. Safe, functional, inviting and beautiful...there is too much to write to describe fully the tremendous details of what Resch Hall will offer our students and faculty. In short, it will offer them a very bright future!