University of Detroit Mercy alumni Steven ’74, ’76 and Beth Jevitz Pagnotta ’74 have long been supporters of the School of Architecture and have made another recent donation that will have long-lasting effects on the School and its students.
This donation will be used to complete renovations to the School’s facilities on the McNichols Campus. Through the gift, the building will be outfitted with state-of-the-art technology while creating a functional space for educating students.
“(Stephen Vogel), the former dean of the School, was my fourth-year design professor,” said Steven Pagnotta, who also serves on the School of Architecture’s Board of Advisors. “He had a vision to renovate the building so the students would have a great experience there. We were part of the renovation of the studio space and it felt natural to be involved in the renovation of the lower level as well.”
According to School of Architecture Dean Will Wittig, this project is the culmination of a 20-year project to revamp the interior of the building.
“This renovation project is a follow-up to a previous project we did on the second floor to improve the working conditions in the studio spaces. We want to do the same thing to the studio areas in the basement, allowing for more natural light, shared space for collaboration and small-group meetings and improvements to our workshop and lab areas,” Wittig said.
The plans also include upgrading technology, which, according to Wittig, currently limits the staff and the innovative and progressive concepts they would like to incorporate more in the curriculum.
“We want to give our students the workshop facilities to be able to explore ideas and concepts that are not really possible with our current environment,” said Wittig. “Through this phase of the improvements, we will install cutting-edge digital equipment and provide our students the space to work with materials and understand construction in a different way than they can now.”
Steven Pagnotta founded Bradford Real Estate Companies and develops properties primarily in the Chicago area, but also in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. His wife, Beth, had a long and successful career in finance. They both feel strongly about supporting University of Detroit Mercy.
“The University had an impact on our lives and we now feel we can give back to others and help provide state-of-the-art educational resources to students. We hope they will be successful as a result of their education at the University and give back as well,” Steven Pagnotta said.
