Culp hosts a ribbon cutting for newly-named meeting room

A ribbon cutting was held in the D.P. Culp Center on Oct. 20 in celebration of the newly renovated meeting rooms.

Mary Lib Quarles White, a Kappa Delta alumni, and her husband, John, reached out in hopes of donating to the university in a way that would be beneficial for sorority life on campus. Mary had previously established the Greek Life Education Programs Fund.

“I try all the time to get the word out about this opportunity to give to the university. So if there are students, family members [or] alumni who are interested in giving to something that does mean a lot on this campus, this is an area where we put a lot of that money to work,” said Maggie Darden, director of fraternity and sorority life.

Upon this request Darden met with Dessi Ford, director of development, to brainstorm. After noticing a lack of equal space for panhellenic recruitment, the pair suggested a redesign for meeting rooms 303 and 304, which were unaltered by the initial Culp renovation in 2018.

“I believe we have a very unique and profound experience for our students who want to learn how to be good leaders,” Darden said. “Having additional funding means that I’m able to pull in other resources to help get high quality programming to the people who really need it.”

The ribbon cutting commemorated the Whites for their donation and celebrated the new opportunities it would bring for students. President Noland presented the Whites with a Distinguished President’s Trust plaque, and John White decided to make another, on-the-spot donation to the university.

The meeting rooms are available to be reserved by all students and organizations. These meeting rooms, now known as the Panhellenic Suite, are also named in Mary’s honor.

Darden, when explaining the content of the event’s commemorations said, “Mary Lib’s gifts to the Greek Life Education Programs Fund have impacted many students and how I have seen those students transform in their leadership ability because of opportunities that we were able to do because of Mary Lib’s gift.”