Above: A rendering of the planned recreational center, a 244,000 square-foot facility that will benefit all ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® students, faculty, and staff.
ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®ās much-anticipated recreation center will be named in honor of the Connell family, in recognition of a $50 million āLight the Worldā campaign gift from ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® Trustee Associate Margot C. Connell, the University announced today.
Construction of the 244,000 square-foot, four-story facility, which will replace the Flynn Recreation Complex, is underway at the former site of Edmondās Hall on Thomas More Road. It will include a state-of-the-art fitness center, jogging track, natatorium with lap and instructional pools, four wood-floor basketball courts, three tennis courts, two multi-activity courts and multi-purpose rooms for spin, yoga and fitness classes, among other amenities. The building will open in the summer of 2019.
Connell, an active supporter of education and health care in Boston and chair of the board of Connell Limited Partnership, is the mother of six ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® graduates and the widow of the late William F. Connell ā59, a longtime ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® trustee for whom the School of Nursing is named. Connell said she made the gift to provide an outlet for students engaged in the rigorous demands of a ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® education.
āSports have always been a big part of our family, and Bill and I always felt that sports and recreation provided a physical outlet for students that is very important,ā said Connell. āHaving already supported an academic endeavor through the School of Nursing, I talked it over with my children and they thought supporting the recreation center was a great idea and something that was needed at ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®.ā
University President William P. Leahy, S.J., praised Connell for her gift and for her unwavering support of ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®. āMargot has been a matriarch of the ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® community who has witnessed first-hand the positive effects that a Jesuit education of the mind, body and spirit can have on students,ā said Fr. Leahy.Ā āWe are grateful to her for her generosity in naming this facility.ā
An avid golfer and sports enthusiast who observed many of ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®ās most memorable sports moments alongside her husband and children, Connell says that while she has seen all the good that athletics can do, she is particularly excited about the benefit the new facility will have on the ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® community.
āThere are so many students at ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® who, while being stars in high school, will not play sports at the Division I level,ā said Connell. āSo, to have another opportunity to participate in their sport ā either through club or recreational activities ā or simply to be able to swim if they want to or to try yoga, run or shoot baskets, is very important to their well-being and overall development.ā Ā
The mother of Monica Healey '88, Lisa McNamara ā89, Courtenay '91, William ā94, Terence ā02 and Timothy '03, J.D. ā12, Connell is also the grandmother of 17, including two grandsons currently attending ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® and two granddaughters and two nieces who are recent graduates. āAll of my grandchildren are athletic,ā said Connell. āI take a measure of pride in knowing that they will benefit from this facility.āĀ Ā Ā Ā Ā
Born and raised in Ossining, NY, Connell received her BA from Michigan State University and taught math and science in New York and California.Ā In addition to her and her late husbandās many activities in support of ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®, Connell is a member of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.Ā She was also awarded the Richard Cardinal Cushing Award from St. Maryās High School of Lynn for her commitment to Catholic education and her personal and professional life accomplishments.
She also established the Connell Nursing Research Scholars Program and the Connell Ethics Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospitalās Institute for Patient Care, and she and Bill funded the Connell and OāReilly Families Cell Manipulation Core Facility and the Connell Family Fund for Melanoma Vaccine Development at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The St. Elizabethās Hospital Emergency Room is also named in honor of Bill Connell.
Yet despite her varied interests and commitments, Connell says that ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® plays a unique role in her and her familyās life.
āBill always said, 'If it wasnāt for ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®, I would not be where I am today.' I have been very lucky; I have been blessed, and the ability to share my good fortune with my childrenās blessings makes me happy.āĀ Ā Ā
Connell credits her personal relationships with Fr. Leahy, the late University Chancellor J. Donald Monan, S.J., and Senior Vice President for University Advancement James J. Husson for helping to make her commitment to ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® so meaningful.
āĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® has made me feel a part of the community,ā said Connell. āIt is a special place that has a warmth, a charisma, that you donāt feel anywhere else. Supporting ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® through this facility just gives me a good feeling.ā
A longstanding and energetic volunteer on behalf of ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°®, Connell served as a convening co-chair of the āLight the Worldā campaign.Ā In recognition of her lifelong accomplishments and years of service, she received an honorary degree from ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® in 2009. Ā
āThis new recreation center has been a long time coming, and will have a day-in, day-out impact on student life on campus when it opens in 2019,ā said Connell. āI look forward to it and to the promise it holds for all members of the ĀŅĀ׊”æÉ°® community.ā
Ā āJack Dunn | University Communications