Buffalo State heralded an exciting new addition to its campus on May 23 with a groundbreaking ceremony for the Jacqueline Vito LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center at the corner of Rockwell Road and Grant Street.
The 10,800-square-foot, two-story structure will serve as a gathering place for alumni as well as a touch point for prospective students, their parents, and other campus visitors.
“For our community of more than 100,000 alumni, this new center will provide a place to reconnect and a place to provide quality programming,” said Buffalo State President Katherine Conway-Turner. “In addition, when prospective students visit Buffalo State, their tours will start at the center. In essence, we envision the Jacqueline Vito LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center becoming an inviting gateway to the campus.”
A combination of state grants and private donations funded the $6.9 million project. The most significant donation was a $1 million gift from Jacqueline Vito LoRusso, who earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from Buffalo State in the 1960s.
Owner of the rental property management firm JVL Management Company, LoRusso has long been involved with alumni events at Buffalo State and has made previous gifts to the college.
“Without Jackie’s generosity and strong commitment to Buffalo State, we wouldn’t be having this groundbreaking celebration,” said Susanne Bair, Buffalo State vice president for institutional advancement. “Jackie has been with us since we began discussing the many ways such a center could benefit the campus and our alumni base. Now that this longtime dream is coming to fruition, we are all enormously grateful to Jackie.”
HOLT Architects of Ithaca, New York, designed the center that Javen Construction Company Inc., of Penfield, New York, will start building immediately. The center is expected to be completed by summer 2018.
About Jacqueline Vito LoRusso
After earning her bachelor’s degree in 1962 and master’s degree in 1964 from Buffalo State, LoRusso taught in the Maryvale School District and at Elmwood Franklin School for many years. LoRusso now owns and operates JVL Management Company, a rental property management firm. She has served twice as a member of the Buffalo State College Foundation Board of Directors, including a current term she’s held since 2010. During the 2012 Transforming Lives: A Campaign for Buffalo State fundraising initiative, she made a generous gift to fund scholarships through the Music Department. In recognition of that gift, the recording studio in the new music complex in Rockwell Hall was officially named the Jacqueline V. LoRusso Control Room and Recording Studio.
