Tim and Alicia (CAS'83) Mullen, generous supporters of the Student Village. Alicia Mullen was the first woman graduate from the computer science department. Photo by Cheryl Garbarino

The Terriers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers will also play the night before, bidding farewell to Walter Brown Arena. But the thirty-three-year-old rink will gain a new tenant during the 2005–06 season, when the women’s hockey club becomes a varsity team, with Brian Durocher (SED’78), the current associate head coach for the men’s team, as its head coach.

“I couldn’t think of a better time for me to walk into this job—to be on the verge of opening the Agganis Arena and elevating women’s hockey to varsity status,” says Mike Lynch, who became director of athletics this summer. “Our goal is to build that team into a national contender, just like the University did with the men’s program.” The new Agganis Arena will enable the women’s team’s leap to varsity: inadequate locker room space at Walter Brown Arena made housing both men’s and women’s teams impossible.

The 6,200-seat multipurpose arena, expandable to 7,200, will be the centerpiece of the John Hancock Student Village, named in recognition of a corporate sponsorship of $20 million from John Hancock Financial Services. The project’s first building, a high-rise residence hall at 10 Buick Street, opened in 2000. The 80,000-square-foot track and tennis center on Ashford Street was built in 2002, and a fitness and recreation center, next to the arena, is scheduled for completion in March. Additional residence halls will also be built.

Construction workers pour concrete for the event floor of Agganis Arena on July 22. More than 425 yards of concrete now cover the building's ice plant, which contains over a mile of steel piping. Photo by Vernon Doucette.

“Between individual giving and corporate sponsorships, we’ve raised over $56 million for the project so far,” says Lynch, who is also vice president of development for athletics. Notable sponsors include Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Snapple, Nantucket Nectars, Constellation New Energy, and Century Bank. The most recent corporate sponsorship comes from Modell’s Sporting Goods, whose president and CEO is Mitchell Modell (SMG’76).

The Student Village “will benefit the BU community as a whole” by creating a new center for campus life, Lynch says. “I think that’s why we’ve been able to reach out to so many people. We have close to a thousand contributors now, and these are people of many interests, not just those who support sports.”

Agganis Arena tours and Student Village fundraising gatherings will continue, Lynch says. He is also looking into holding breakfast and luncheon gatherings in downtown Boston to update alumni on the Student Village project.

And, of course, athletics events will showcase the Student Village. The first BU basketball games held at Agganis Arena will be a pair of February men’s and women’s doubleheaders. Both teams will host Vermont on Saturday, February 12, and Northeastern on Sunday, February 20.

Although the Case Gymnasium will be the basketball teams’ primary home court for the remainder of this season, Lynch envisions high-profile games being played at Agganis Arena. “We’re working to build on our fan base for basketball,” says Lynch, “and we thought that the best way to do that would be to utilize the new arena for basketball this season, rather than waiting for next season. There will undoubtedly be a lot of interest in these games.”

—Brian Fitzgerald