The University dedicated a new, sorely needed multipurpose instructional and office facility—the $2.5 million, 92,000 square foot Buckley Center—on February 7, 1969. Named for the first chairman of UP’s lay board of regents, James L. Buckley (whose gift was the major source of funding), the new building became home for the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Nursing, the School of Education, the Graduate School, and the Office of Student Life. According to Jim Covert’s 1976 history, A Point of Pride, “The Most Rev. Robert J. Dwyer, archbishop of Portland in Oregon, formally blessed Buckley Center…followed by a premier performance in Buckley Auditorium of a commissioned cantata, “For Men Yet Unborn,” written and conducted by Gerald Kechley, professor of music at the University of Washington. It featured the University choir and orchestra with a soprano solo by Portland singer Gloria Cutsforth; honorary degrees were conferred upon the Honorable Edith Green, U.S. representative of Oregon’s third district, and Mr. James L. Buckley. Professor Jacques Barzun of Columbia University delivered an address entitled “Knowledge Development and the Quality of Life.” In all, it was a memorable experience that generated considerable warmth among members of the University community, despite the unseasonably cold weather that weekend and the prevailing chilly winds that blew across the quadrangles of academe in those years.” For more information on University history see the University Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac.