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the alumni bridge challenge

In 2009, Temple University School of Medicine will open the doors of a spacious, state-of-the art educational facility. Eleven stories tall and extending nearly a full city block, this stunning new home will attract new generations who want to teach and learn medicine the Temple way.

Ground has been broken. Construction has begun.We are literally laying the foundation for the future of Temple University School of Medicine. And alumni are invited to participate in this historic project in a unique way.

The Power of Connections

The new building also offers an opportunity to revitalize Kresge Hall, our primary education building since 1968. Kresge will remain an important component of the campus, providing additional education and research space. The key to this renewal is to connect Kresge to the new school with a pedestrian bridge that crosses Tioga Street.

The medical school’s current buildings — Kresge, the Medical Research Building, and the Old Medical School Building — are interconnected. The bridge from Kresge to the new building will extend that accessibility and connection in practice and theme. This bridge will be named for all alumni of the School of Medicine.

A Challenge … and an Opportunity to Match

E. Ron Salvitti, MD ’63, an ophthalmologist in Washington, Pa., chair-elect of the School of Medicine’s Board of Visitors, has created a challenge grant to fund the Alumni Bridge, a grant that will double certain gifts. Board Chair and fellow alumnus Frank Baldino, Jr., PhD ’80, Chairman and CEO of Cephalon, Inc., immediately joined Dr. Salvitti in the challenge. Then other Board members pitched in. Altogether, they have pooled $500,000 to seed the challenge.

And now they are challenging other alumni to make significant gifts to the bridge project, offering to match all gifts of $25,000 to $50,000 on a dollar-for dollar basis.  When $1 million has been raised, the Alumni Bridge will be dedicated in honor of all alumni of the School of Medicine, future and past.

This is the challenge: to fund a bridge connecting past to present, present to future in honor of all alumni.

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By Giselle Zayon

Director, Alumni Affairs

giselle.zayon@temple.edu

May 3, 2007

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