University of Maine Foundation

A place to call home

Buchanan Alumni House

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The official ribbon cutting ceremony for The University of Maine's "new front door," the Robert D. Buchanan '44 Alumni House, will be May 31, 2002, part of Reunion Weekend.

The new $7.3 million facility, funded entirely by private and corporate donations, will be "a place to call home" for all UMaine alumni. It will house the offices of the University of Maine Alumni Association and the University of Maine Foundation.

The three-story building also will house the new UMaine Visitors Center, meeting and reception areas, and an alumni library and museum.

Gifts and pledges to the project included $2 million from 56 reunion classes. More than 13,000 UMaine alumni donated to the project — more alumni than have given to any campaign in UMaine history.

Alumni House is named for Dr. Robert Buchanan, a member of the UMaine Class of '44, who donated $1 million to the project. Buchanan is a retired dentist who grew up in Caribou, Maine, and now lives in Whittier, Calif.