HANOVER — The fourth new Dartmouth College residence hall on West Wheelock Street announced since last summer will honor female graduates.
The $27 million Alumnae Hall will be the first residence hall people see when entering Hanover via Ledyard Bridge.
The building will hopefully provide a “visible statement of alumnae support” for the college, Trustee Susan Huang noted in a Tuesday news release from the college. Dartmouth became the last Ivy League school to begin accepting women in 1972.
The hall, which is the brainchild of four women sitting on Dartmouth’s 26-member Board of Trustees, was funded by 27 Dartmouth alumnae who each donated $1 million to the project.
The Hanover Planning Board approved the project at an early October meeting.
The five-story dorm will include apartment-style residences for 95 juniors and seniors, according to the release. It also will connect to another to-be-constructed dorm, Shonda Rhimes Hall.
Together, the four dorms and ongoing renovation projects will add 783 new beds for students and are part of Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock’s initiative to add 1,000 beds for students, faculty and staff by 2033.
Currently, Dartmouth has about 3,900 beds for undergraduate students on campus, college spokesperson Amy Olson said Wednesday.
Alumnae Hall, Shonda Rhimes Hall and the recently announced Class of 1989 Hall are all scheduled for construction beginning early next year.
Meanwhile, the first of the four West Wheelock buildings, Russo Hall, is on track to open next fall.
All of the new dorms are scheduled to be complete before fall 2028 and will include energy-efficient construction elements.