Dr. Ramon Torrecilha addresses the audience during the event at WSU Thursday, announcing a $1.1 million donation to the university, the largest its ever received.
WESTFIELD—Yesterday Westfield State University announced that it received its largest donation in its 178-year history.
Westfield State University (WSU) received a $1.1 million donation from an anonymous source, which was first announced during an event honoring the life and career of educator, long-time chairperson of the WSU Music Department and philanthropist, the late Dr. Catherine Dower. The donation will allow the school to purchase 20 Steinway pianos for its recently-commissioned Catherine Dower Center for Performing and Fine Arts.
“An anonymous donor made a transformative donation of $1.1 million in honor of Dr. Dower’s legacy,” WSU President Dr. Ramon S. Torrecilha said. “This will make Westfield State University an all-Steinway institution.”
According to a press release, once the school acquires the Steinway pianos it will be the only New England public university to receive the “All-Steinway” distinction. Overall, less than 140 colleges and universities in the US have this distinction.
Dr. Catherine A. Dower, Professor Emerita (WNG file photo)
The donation, which came at the end of the event honoring Dower, surpassed Dower’s own $1 million donation for the largest the school has ever received.
The event also marked the impact that Dower had on students in her long history with the school, stemming as far back as the 1950s.
“Alumni often recount places they couldn’t have visited without Dr. Dower’s support,” Torrecilha said. “Dr. Dower’s efforts were always in the best interests of others.”
Dower, in addition to being an educator with WSU and eventual music chair until her retirement in 1990, was also named a professor emerita of music history of literature within the university and had published many written works, including a history of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Holyoke. She also was a founding member of the Irish-American Cultural Institute.
The Catherine Dower Center for Performing and Fine Arts first opened in January of this year, following $5.8 million in renovations. The center is housed in the former Juniper Park Elementary School, which is on the WSU campus on Western Avenue.
Dr. Dower passed away in February 2017.
