Architect's rendering of the interior of Pulver Pavilion, the planned expansion of the Cotter Union. At left is the bridge between the two existing sections of the building.

The Pulver Pavilion, a vast, open space with high, barrel-vaulted ceilings, will include a caf�c3;©, a snack bar, and a lounge area. Designed to become a “living room” for Colby students, the pavilion will become the focal point of Cotter Union, with most areas of the existing building leading to and from the new addition.

Trustee David Pulver ’63, his wife, Carol, and their daughter Stephanie Pulver ’93, made the naming gift for the new facility. David Pulver, who has served on the trustees’ Student Affairs Committee since he joined the Board of Trustees in 1983, says that a gift to support student life seemed natural, given his involvement in that aspect of the College. But not until he saw the plans for the building, designed by the architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, was he convinced that this project deserved his substantial support. “The more I saw it the more excited I became,” he said from his home in Mendham, N.J.

The Pulver Pavilion will be built into the student center, which was completed in 1985 and was renamed Cotter Union in 1997 in honor of former Colby president William R. Cotter and his wife, Linda. In addition to the new space created in the pavilion, major parts of     Cotter Union will be reconfigured and renovated. The project is part of a comprehensive campus plan that includes several other new buildings, which, taken together, qualify as Colby’s most ambitious expansion since the Mayflower Hill campus was built in the first half of the 20th century.