UF RECEIVES $4.2 MILLION GIFT FOR NEW LEPIDOPTERA CENTER

[Mike Quinn]

UF RECEIVES $4.2 MILLION GIFT FOR NEW LEPIDOPTERA CENTER
One of world's largest butterfly collections to be kept in new facilities
 
Jan. 5, 2001
 
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Butterflies by the millions will have a new place to
call home at the University of Florida, thanks to a major gift to construct
two new buildings for Lepidoptera research and public exhibits, university
officials announced today (1/5).
 
William and Nadine McGuire of Wayzata, Minn., have given $4.2 million to the
University of Florida for the facilities and to establish the William W. and
Nadine M. McGuire Center for Lepidoptera Research. The gift is one of the
largest private gifts ever given to foster research on insects and is
eligible for an equal match from the state of Florida Alec Courtelis
Facilities Enhancement Challenge Grant Program, which would bring the total
amount of the gift to $8.4 million.
 
The facility, to be named McGuire Hall, will be attached to the existing
Florida Museum of Natural History's Powell Hall. The proposed
35,000-square-foot Lepidoptera center will be devoted principally to housing
one of the world's largest and most complete Lepidoptera collections and the
associated research facilities for their study. It also will contain a
public education and live butterfly exhibit. The center is projected to open
in early 2003.
 
The McGuire's gift also will allow for construction of a 6,000-square-foot
building adjacent to UF's entomology and nematology building. The new
facility will be named the William W. and Nadine M. McGuire Center for
Insect Conservation.
 
"Lepidoptera research is a vital area to the study of ailing ecosystems
because butterflies are an indicator species for how the environment is
faring as a whole," said William McGuire. "The University of Florida and its
multidisciplinary approach to research, coupled with the state of Florida's
commitment to the environment, made our choice to invest in the University
of Florida an easy one."
 
The Florida Museum of Natural History and UF's departments of zoology and
entomology have been seeking space to house a collection of more than 1
million butterflies currently kept in UF's Allyn Museum of Entomology in
Sarasota, Fla. Donated to the university in 1981 by businessman Arthur
Allyn, the Sarasota facility reached capacity several years ago.
 
"The McGuire Center will help to bring one of the world's finest assemblages
of research materials together at the University of Florida to help answer
fundamental questions in biology, where since Darwin's day, butterflies and
moths have been used to study evolutionary change, ecological questions, and
even as models to research genetic and developmental problems in humans,"
said Tom Emmel, zoology professor and director of UF's Division of
Lepidoptera Research. "The collections to be kept in the new facilities
 
will also preserve for study in perpetuity samples of biodiversity from the
tropics and temperate regions worldwide that can never be gathered again,
due to habitat destruction and environmental change."
 
McGuire received his bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at
Austin and his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at
Galveston. He is chairman and CEO of UnitedHealth Group. Nadine McGuire also
is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. The McGuires are
long-time enthusiasts of Lepidoptera and environmental studies and have
donated more than 30,000 butterflies to UF in the past.
 
The McGuire's gift is part of the University of Florida's five-year capital
campaign, which ended on Dec. 31. The "It's Performance That Counts"
campaign raised private gifts for UF scholarships, faculty positions,
facilities and technological enhancements to help the university produce
top-quality performance in teaching and research. As of Nov. 30, the
campaign had raised more than $789 million in private commitments and state
matching support for the university. The final total for the campaign is
expected to be announced next week.
 
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Writer: Chris Brazda, (352) 392-1633, cbrazda at uff.ufl.edu
Sources: William McGuire, (952) 936-1201
Tom Emmel, (352) 392-5894, tcemmel at ufl.edu
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 http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2001news/butterfl.htm
 
 
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