Sports center named for Susan Kettering Williamson
At a ceremony Saturday in conjunction with Celebration Weekend, Skidmore named its sports center for trustee Susan Kettering Williamson '59, L.H.D. '98.
The naming honors Williamson's philanthropy and service to the College. Williamson
is Skidmore's longest-serving trustee, having joined the board in 1971. She was a
co-chair of the recently completed Creative Thought Bold Promise capital campaign,
and as part of that effort offered to increase her gift to the College by $1 million
if 10,000 alumni, parents, and friends made a gift of any size. In all, 11,215 responded.
At the dedication, Skidmore President Philip Glotzbach pointed to the sports center
as a natural choice to honor Williamson, who "has long championed the importance of
educating students to live a full life, one that addresses the needs of the mind,
the spirit, and the body."
Built in 1982 and expanded in 1994, the Williamson Center houses gymnasiums, courts,
training rooms, swimming and diving pools, and support facilities. It also includes
faculty offices, classrooms, and research space for the College's Health and Exercise
Science Department.
Director of Athletics Gail Cummings-Danson praised Williamson as a "trail blazer."
She described the center as a "place for all things movement," home to two academic
majors, varsity athletics teams, intramural sports, fitness, and recreation.
President Emeritus David Porter thanked Williamson for her nearly four decades as
a member of the College's board of trustees, citing the value of her "quiet strength,
judgment, and balance," particularly as chair of the board's nominating committee.
Noting that the success of the Williamson Challenge helped the Creative Thought Bold
Promise campaign exceed its goals, Porter called Williamson, along with co-chairs
Wilma "Billie" Stein Tisch '48 and Sara Lee Lubin Schupf '62, one of the "three Graces"
of the campaign.
"Lucy Scribner would be so tickled to have three powerful, wonderful women" leading
the effort, he said.
Sporting a tie gifted to him by Williamson and exercising his penchant for puns,
Porter recounted anecdotes of time spent with Susan Williamson and her husband, neurologist
Peter D. Williamson, while he was president. He also recalled that during that era,
the Williamsons donated what was at the time the largest gift in the history of the
College.
Porter spoke of individuals who have benefitted from Kettering scholarships, funded
by the Kettering Fund and the Kettering family. He cited Williamson's part in funding
the David H. Porter Chair, and the effect it has had on the professors who have held
it, Tadahisa Kuroda and Jeffrey Segrave.
Reflecting on the importance of physical activity, Porter quoted Juvenal's mens sana in corpore sano, "a healthy mind in a healthy body." The plaque to be installed in the center's lobby
salutes Williamson as an advocate and champion of that ideal.
President Glotzbach invited Williamson and members of her family to the podium to
witness the unveiling of the plaque. A celebratory?but non-alcoholic?popping of corks
punctuated the finale, and those gathered were treated to a buffet of healthy snacks,
pro corpore sano.
