In a surprise announcement today at dedication ceremonies for Wayne State University's new $35 million Undergraduate Library, the university's Board of Governors announced that the building would be named in honor of outgoing President David W. Adamany.

Board Chair Denise Lewis told an audience of approximately 300 persons on hand for the event that the Board voted unanimously at its monthly meeting earlier in the day to name the building after Adamany, who is stepping down from the presidency later this year. (Adamany's successor, Irvin Reid of Montclair State University in New Jersey, was named by the Board on August 25 but has not yet assumed duties as the university's chief executive.

Adamany, the catalyst behind Wayne State's emergence as one of the premier urban research university's in the country, proposed the idea of a library focused on the needs of first-time college students shortly after becoming the university's eighth president in 1982.

His vision became a reality with the opening of the expansive, three-story library at the start of WSU's fall academic term on Sept. 2. Construction was completed in less than two years.

The library has many features and services designed to reduce the "library anxiety" often experienced by first-time college students.

For more information on the David W. Adamany Undergraduate Library, or for an interview with President Adamany about WSU's newest building, contact Bob Wartner or Tom Sakely at (313) 577-2150.