$1.5-million Estate Gift will Expand Learning Opportunities for King's Students
King’s University College will receive a $1.5-million estate gift from alumnus Frank Schlichtherle ’62, the largest single donation in its history. The gift will support classroom modernization, including the naming of a classroom in Schlichtherle’s honour, as well as a named endowed experiential learning award. Together, these investments will create lasting opportunities for students both in the classroom and beyond it.
“This gift, the largest in King’s history, conveys powerfully what we mean when we say that King’s alumni are connected for life, carrying an enduring connection to the people and places that shaped them,” says Dr. Robert Ventresca, President of King’s University College. “More than half a century after graduating, Frank Schlichtherle’s extraordinary gift will transform classrooms and gathering places into modern, accessible, and inclusive spaces for students to learn and thrive. The gift will also expand access to experiential learning so that future generations of students can put their education to work shaping the world to come.”
This support comes as King’s continues to invest in the renewal of teaching and learning spaces across campus. The recently modernized classroom in Wemple Hall room 147 provides one example of that work, bringing together accessibility, flexibility, technology and thoughtful design to better support how students and faculty use the space. The project was fully donor-funded through support from King’s students.
Schlichtherle’s generosity will allow King’s to build on that work, creating new momentum for broader renewal across campus.
Concept renderings for Wemple Hall’s East Wing offer a glimpse of how that vision could take shape. Proposed improvements include increased natural daylight, upgraded furniture and finishes, stronger connections between classrooms and surrounding spaces, and additional areas for students to connect and collaborate, including soft seating and laptop bars.
The impact will also extend beyond physical learning spaces. Education at King’s goes beyond lectures and textbooks, giving students opportunities to apply what they learn through hands-on experiences, including courses, trips and global learning opportunities. An endowed experiential learning award will help make a global learning opportunity financially accessible to a student who might otherwise be unable to participate.
The areas Schlichtherle chose to support reflect the role education played throughout his life. He graduated from King’s in 1962 before pursuing a career in education. He taught history at Cayuga and Caledonia High Schools until his retirement in 1996.
His connection to King’s continued long after graduation. He began supporting the College in 1988 and remained an annual donor for decades. Schlichtherle met with King’s Foundation staff to discuss how he hoped his estate gift would support future students. Reflecting his career in education, he wanted his support to strengthen both opportunities for students and the environments in which they learn.
“For Frank, this is a crowning moment, a chance to give back to the place that helped shape who he became,” says Terra Ahrens, Executive Director, Foundation, Alumni & Development at King’s University College. “More than 60 years after graduating, his connection to King’s continues through a gift that reflects both his lifelong commitment to education and his belief in the transformative power of the student experience. His legacy will live on in the spaces where future students learn, the opportunities they pursue and the experiences that shape their own journeys.”
The Wemple East Wing concepts point to what will come next. Schlichtherle’s estate gift gives King’s new capacity to carry classroom renewal forward, while also creating opportunities for students through experiential learning.
Together, these areas of support represent an investment in what comes next for King’s: learning spaces that continue to evolve around the needs of students and faculty, and opportunities that extend the student experience beyond the classroom. Schlichtherle’s legacy will be part of that future, helping students make their own crowning moments at King’s.
Photo credit: Cornerstone Architecture