The Rhatigan Renewal

Pardon our dust The Rhatigan Student Center is still open during construction. Click here to find out which offices and services remain are open for business while the work gets done. Follow the Rhatigan Renewal on Facebook for construction photos, updates, and video progress reports.

Essential to campus life, the 50-year-old Rhatigan Student Center — or RSC — is the heart of Wichita State University. In 2011, a $33 million renovation was announced. The project will be funded largely by an increase of $6 per semester (per student) in student fees, because the state of Kansas does not allow grants for expanding or renovating student unions.

With your help, we can ease the burden on our students.

Private donations are the only other source of money that can be spent on the RSC renovation. Your donation can help reduce the number of years students will pay the higher fees. The center's namesake, Jim Rhatigan, WSU Foundation consultant and former dean of students, and the WSU Foundation set a goal to raise 10 percent of the project cost. Dr. Rhatigan and his wife, Beverly, have already made the lead gift toward this goal.

There's a benefit to you, too. Gifts to the Rhatigan Renewal are eligible to receive a tax credit of 50 percent through the Higher Education Deferred Maintenance Tax Credit Program. Find out how you can earn this credit.

 

News about the Rhatigan Renewal

 Rhatigan Renewal: one-year progress report

    Nearly one year after ground was broken to begin the renovation and expansion of the Rhatigan Student Center, the project is mostly on schedule, with completion still scheduled for August 2014.This month, workers are putting the finishing touches on the north half of the building.

 

 

 

Rhatigan Renewal project attracts ongoing support

    Bill and Dorothy Cohen's support includes recent $90,000 gift to the Rhatigan Student Center Renewal. Neither Bill Cohen nor his wife, Dorothy, attended Wichita State, so unlike some alumni they don’t have fond memories of “grabbing and gabbing” — getting a quick lunch and catching up with friends — at the Rhatigan Student Center. But that doesn’t mean they don’t understand the importance of the building to Wichita State. When the current renovation and expansion project is completed in 2014, the Rhatigan Student Center will be the largest building on campus, save for Koch Arena.

 

View the slideshow from the Rhatigan Renewal Groundbreaking.

See also: Media coverage from KAKE-TV 10 and KWCH-TV 12

 

 

 

 

Beverly and Jim Rhatigan lead by example

It isn’t a surprise that Beverly and Jim Rhatigan are the first to make a financial commitment to the project through the WSU Foundation’s fundraising efforts. “I asked Jim to lead the WSU Foundation’s campaign to raise 10 percent of the estimated $33 million,” said Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the WSU Foundation, “and he willingly said yes. He told me, ‘If I’m going to raise money, Bev and I need to make the initial gift.’" 

 

More Rhatigan Renewal Headlines

• Rhatigan Student Center Renewal tax-credit deadline
• Rhatigan Renewal: David '77 and Carolyn Blakemore's gift to help remodel WSU's 'living room'
• Fundraising effort to rename Rhatigan Student Center Ballroom in honor of First Lady Shirley Beggs
• New RSC floor plans, building renderings unveiled
• Rhatigan Renewal update: Student center, WSU memories inspire donors’ gifts
• Tax credit serves as extra motivation for Kelly and Jon Callen
• Renovated RSC student lounge to be home to Pete's Place, honoring Pete Armstrong ’42
• Good news for future donors to the Rhatigan Renewal