Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Beckman Institute [PAGE 4]

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Stanley O. Ikenberry President University of Illinois

here won t be a history book written about the University of Illinois that won't include a chapter m on today and won't include a chapter that will say something about what happened one year ago today, when we rededicated this site as the future home of the Arnold O. and Mabel M. Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Dr. Beckman is a very kind and gentle man. But I must tell you he is also a very firm taskmaster. When we first talked about how this project might proceed he made it unmistakably clear that he wanted it to proceed with some dispatch, with some promptness, and we began to talk about the date when the architect might be selected for designing the Beckman Institute I told him that I thought we could easily have that done by the first of the year and he suggested to me, wouldn't it be possible to get it done by December 10th? I said yes, I think it will be possible to get it done by December 10th. And then he suggested the possibility of scheduling the groundbreaking October 10, 1986. I said, yes, I think it would also be a very good idea to have the groundbreaking on October 10th. The fact that we are here this morning—that we have come so far—is a tribute to many people. It is a tribute to the faculty and the many others who have worked so hard on this project, including our architects—in fact, all members of the team who have made today possible. But it is a tribute to the responsiveness of Illinois state government and the generosity and genius of Arnold Beckman more than any other two single factors. Many are not aware that Governor Thompson was an early confidant in regard to the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. I briefed him early as to our dreams, our ambitions, and what we were hoping to accomplish. I asked the Governor to be an active participant because I suspected early on that Dr. Beckman