Dedication of the Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center

Re-posted - September 6, 2011

Eureka College to Dedicate Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center

Ivy-cutting ceremony to be Sept. 24

Eureka College will dedicate its Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center in a public ivy-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. Sept. 24 at the entrance of Melick Library, where the center is housed.

Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, who is the honorary chairman of the Eureka College Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, will speak. Free tours of the center and the college archives will follow. Melick Library is located at the corner of College Avenue and Darst Street.


Mark R. and Rosalind Shenkman

The center, which will be open to the Eureka College community and to the public, was made possible with a gift from Mark R. Shenkman of Greenwich, Conn. It has been under construction in the lower level of Melick Library since May.

The center will house the estimated 950 books written about Reagan to add to the library’s existing collection of primary documents, letters and objects in the archives and the Reagan museum. A recent acquisition is the two-volume set of “The Reagan Diaries Unabridged” edited and donated by historian and author Douglas Brinkley and signed by former first lady Nancy Reagan.

Shenkman’s gift also has funded improvements to the college’s existing archives room and equipment.

Shenkman’s gift ranks among the most important in the history of the college’s relationship with the life and legacy of Ronald Reagan, said Eureka College President J. David Arnold. Reagan graduated from the college in 1932. He dedicated Melick Library in 1967 when he was governor of California, and audio clips from Reagan’s dedication comments will be part of the Sept. 24 ceremony.

“Mr. Shenkman’s gift will have a profound impact on all who value Reagan’s remarkable story of


	The Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center

leadership and service,” Arnold said. “Eureka College is pleased and proud to house this vast collection of information written about the life and legacy of the 40th President of the United States.”

Shenkman is a member of the Ronald W. Reagan Society at Eureka College. He is the founder and president of Shenkman Capital Management Inc., an investment advisory firm with offices in New York City, London and Stamford, Conn. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in business administration from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

The Shenkman-Reagan center is part of Eureka College’s Ivy Project that includes various new constructions and building updates. Instead of ribbon-cutting ceremonies to dedicate projects, the college holds ivy-cutting ceremonies since ivy has long figured into the traditions of the college.

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