In 2028, Dartmouth will have its first campus building named after a woman and its first named after a Black alum.
Shonda Rhimes, the Hollywood A-List producer behind hits like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, pledged $15 million to the school, which will be used to construct a new five-story dormitory on West Wheelock Street bearing her name.
“Dartmouth wasn’t made in my image, but it is possible to remake it to include my image,” Rhimes wrote in a college news release.
Construction will start in 2026, with a goal to be completed by 2028.
The college said the new residence hall is part of its 10-year campaign to increase on-campus housing, with the goal of adding more than 1,000 beds and housing greater than 90% of undergraduates. It said this effort aims to relieve the affordable housing crisis in the Upper Valley, which needs more than 5,000 additional housing units by 2040 in order to meet population demand.
“At a time when it feels like people are questioning the value of higher education, it feels important to put my money back into higher education,” Rhimes said in the news release.
But amid the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, Dartmouth has carved a different path than some of its peers. In April, it abstained from joining every other member of the Ivy League in signing a letter criticizing funding cuts to universities who do not align their policies with the Trump administration’s ideological priorities.
Rhimes serves as a member of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and delivered its commencement address in 2014.
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