St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: News

Fitting for a baptism, rain poured down on the morning of April 25, 2008, the long awaited day of the groundbreaking for the Mulva Library. A large number of students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Webb Theater to attend the ceremony. Greeted by president William Hynes and led into prayer by Abbot Gary Neville, the audience had the chance to hear commentaries by Patrick Kelly, the chair of the board of Trustees, dean Michael Marsden, Felice Maciejewski, director of the library, and from Miriam and James Mulva themselves. Ms. Mulva, a graduate of St. Norbert College, and her husband Jim made the lead gift of $ 10 mio. and were greeted by the gratitude of a standing audience. "This is a way in which we can give back," Ms. Mulva said, and Mr. Mulva called St. Norbert College "an incredible jewel for the community."Both of them also pointed to other benefactors of the $ 20 mio. project to recognize their efforts and contributions. Fr. Jay Fostner, vice president for Mission and Heritage, blessed the site, and then the Mulvas, joined by president Hynes, Patric Kelly, and Abbot Neville, proceeded to the sybmolic groundbreaking by diggin up a grass box. The Times had a chance to interview Miriam Mulva during the reception that followed the ceremony. When asked what motivated the couple. who currently lives in Houston, TX, to contribute so generously to the project, Ms. Mulva shared, "Dennis Day and Don Salmon came down and asked us if we could help them out with the library. Jim's mom worked for the library for 16 years, and I have a serious book addiction. So I said, 'I think a library would be a great idea.'" Again, Ms. Mulva pointed to the other donors who helped make the groundbreaking possible saying, "It took a lot of people working together which is great because now you have all those donors who are part of the whole library." Despite the successful fundraising, the library still lacks $ 4.8 million. However, Ms. Mulva hopes that now that the building process has begun, the rest of the money will come as well. "I don't think there is a problem at all," she said. "Once the building is started a lot of people will step forward and they already have some prospective donors." Ms. Mulva shared what she thinks gets people to help the most. "Sometimes the easiest thing to do, but also the hardest, is just to say: I need your help," she said and continued, "If you say to someone 'I need your help', what do you wanna do? You want to help."

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