UAFS announces Forsgren Family Conference Room

The conference room in the Learning and Research Center at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith will be named the Forsgren Family Conference Room.

The naming follows a recent $50,000 gift from Forsgren Inc. and is part of the Giving Opportunity Now campaign being conducted by the UAFS Foundation. The University committed to raising $5 million in private gifts to help offset costs for a 40,000-square-foot addition to Boreham Library. The gift was the decision of brothers Steve, Justin and Dallas Forsgren.

Forsgren was founded in the early 1900s by Olaf Victor Forsgren, a Swedish immigrant. Today, the three fourth-generation brothers serve in leadership roles in the company, which is involved in heavy civil and highway construction in the Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma region.

The Forsgren Family Conference Room, which will have window views of the UAFS campus, will provide meeting space for businesses and non-profit organizations as well as for faculty, staff and students.

Dr. Marta M. Loyd, vice chancellor for university advancement, said UAFS officials are grateful for the support of Forsgren Inc.

“We are pleased to have the Forsgren name associated with the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith with the Forsgren Family Conference Room,” said Loyd. “This is a wonderful gift that honors the Forsgren family but also shows the family’s commitment to this community. They have been supportive of UAFS through the years and have now made an investment that demonstrates their belief in the value this university brings to the community.”

The conference room is in the Business and Entrepreneurship Research Center of the Learning and Research Center addition to Boreham Library. The addition is expected to be completed in August 2012. The Learning and Research Center, which will increase seating from 384 to 920, includes 214 computer stations, creates space for roughly 52,000 new volumes and features a 24-hour study area and computer lab for students studying late at night.

The library project includes a refit of the existing Boreham Library, which is slated for a January 2013 completion. Total cost is approximately $14.2 million and the project is funded in part with a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as monies provided through the American Recovery and Investment Act, the State of Arkansas, new bond issues and refinancing of existing bonds.