Buffalo State College broke ground Tuesday on its new LoRusso Alumni & Visitor Center. The center, located on Rockwell Road near Grant Street, is scheduled to open a year from now.
While the center will be home to the school's 100,000 alums, it will also serve as the face of the college for its prospective students. Overall, President Katherine Conway-Turner sees the building as connection of the college's past and its future.
"They (alumni) remember the same things about their wonderful experience here at Buffalo State, the outstanding faculty, the way they connected with each other, some of you met your spouses here, all kinds of exciting things." said Conway-Turner, who expressed hope that alums will see the center as "their home away from home."
The $7 million dollar complex will be open in about a year. It's named for Buffalo State grad Jacqueline Vito LoRusso who received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the college in elementary education. Later, she enjoyed a long career in teaching and operated a rental property management company.
Vito Lorusso, who contributed $1 million to the project, spoke fondly of her days at the Elmwood Avenue institution.
"It was in September of 1958, that I fell in love with Buffalo State. I was a freshman attending orientation," she recalled.
"Today, 59 years later, I'm still proud of my school."
