Groundbreaking ceremony for new Michels Commons at St. Norbert College

A groundbreaking ceremony to transform the Sensenbrenner Memorial Union at St. Norbert College into the state-of-the-art Michels Commons will be held on Friday, May 6, at 2:30 p.m. on the Sensenbrenner Union Patio.

Members of the Michels family, who gave a $7.7 million dollar gift for the project, will be on hand for the ceremony. St. Norbert College President Thomas Kunkel, board chairman Bill Auriemma, and vice president of mission and heritage Fr. Jay Fostner, O.Praem., will be present along with faculty, staff, students, St. Norbert trustees and select close friends of the college. Following the ceremony, an ice cream social will be held.

The Michels family has long been a part of the St. Norbert College community. Ruth and the late Dale Michels sent three of their four children to the college.

Michels Commons will include a ballroom, reception spaces and outdoor patios. In addition, Ruth's Marketplace will reinvent the college dining hall as a stylish, health-conscious food court with a dramatic two-story atrium overlooking De Pere's Third Street, and Dale's Sports Lounge will be a casual dining and gathering space with multiple large-screen televisions and other amenities. Construction of Michels Commons will be completed by May 2012.

For more information on Michels Commons or to follow construction activities, visit http://www.snc.edu/michelscommons/.