A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday (March 8) for Duncan Hall, a new men’s residence at the University of Notre Dame underwritten with a gift from Raymond T. Duncan, a 1952 Notre Dame graduate, president of Duncan Oil Inc. in Denver and owner of Silver Oak Cellars in Oakville, Calif.
Home to 232 undergraduate students, Duncan Hall, a 68,482- square-foot, three-story building, will be located west of McGlinn Hall on the University’s West Quad. It will feature six sections, each with a dedicated study space and social lounge organized around a central lounge with a kitchen and vending area. Each section will contain single rooms, doubles and triples. In addition, rooms for four will feature bay windows and private bathrooms. A chapel with a vaulted ceiling will be located on the second floor.
Duncan and his wife, Sally, along with their children and spouses, including Michael J. Duncan, a 1979 Notre Dame graduate, and David and Kary O’Connell Duncan, both 1988 graduates, will attend the groundbreaking ceremony at the hall’s future site. Also attending will be John Affleck-Graves, Notre Dame’s executive vice president; Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., vice president for student affairs; Louis Nanni, vice president for University relations; and James J. Lyphout, vice president for business operations.
“Ray’s remarkable generosity to Notre Dame will provide a significant improvement to the quality of student life on campus,” said University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. “He can take great comfort in considering the generations of Notre Dame students who will reap the benefits of his contribution. We are tremendously grateful for his unselfish devotion to his alma mater.”
After graduating from Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Duncan went into the oil business with his father, Walter Duncan, a former University Trustee who attended Notre Dame from 1904 to 1912 (high school and college). Duncan is a former member of the Arts and Letters Advisory Council and recently retired member of the advisory council of the Snite Museum of Art.
Two of Duncan’s four sons and two of his three brothers were graduated from Notre Dame.
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on March 05, 2007.