$40 million gift to liberal arts school announced by Rebecca Bergman

Alumni couple have pledged $40 million to Gustavus Adolphus College in what is described as the largest gift ever to the private liberal arts school in St. Peter, Minn.

President Rebecca Bergman called it an “incredible gift” designed to help Gustavus “be at the forefront of liberal arts education well into the future.”

About a third of the funds will be earmarked for scholarships, the college said. The donation, which is a multiyear commitment, also will help fund a $70 million renovation and expansion of the campus’ Nobel Hall of Science and provide a “significant boost” to the school’s $165 million endowment, according to the announcement.

Gustavus, which was founded in 1862, has about 2,300 undergraduate students. It is known internationally for its annual Nobel Conference in the fall.

Gustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its name from Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden from 1611 to 1632. Its residential campus includes a 125-acre arboretum.

Their annual Nobel Conference was established in the mid-1960s when college officials asked the Nobel Foundation for permission to name the new science building the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science as a memorial to the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. Permission was granted, and the facility’s dedication ceremony in 1963 included officials from the Nobel Foundation and 26 Nobel Laureates.

Following the 1963 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, college representatives met with Nobel Foundation officials, asking them to endorse an annual science conference at the college and to allow use of the Nobel name to establish credibility and high standards.

At the urging of several prominent Nobel laureates, the foundation granted the request, and the first conference was held at the college in January 1965.