Spring 2026 Issue

Campus Renewal

Updates on new spaces and renovations


By University Staff

William & Mary continues to progress on improvements that transform facilities for students, staff, faculty and visitors.

On Feb. 6, during Charter Day Weekend, the W&M community celebrated the grand opening of the Mackesy Sports Performance Center — known as the Mack — a space that elevates the daily experience of all student-athletes with new strength training, sports medicine, mental performance, academic and practice spaces, as well as several new locker rooms.

Also during Charter Day Weekend, we reached a major milestone in the construction of Robert M. Gates Hall with the Topping Off Ceremony. Gates Hall will be home to five interdisciplinary centers, which generate research of national and international consequence: AidData, the Global Research Institute, the Institute for Integrative Conservation, the Whole of Government Center of Excellence and the Gates Global Policy Center.

In the center of campus, Integrated Science Center 4 (ISC4) was dedicated on April 23. Home to the new School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics, ISC4 features classrooms, a lecture hall, multiple collaboration spaces and more than 35 instructional and research labs. The ground floor is home to the university’s new makerspace, with more than 8,000 square feet for hands-on design, experimentation and creative problem-solving.

As campus gains innovative new spaces, W&M is also preserving our distinctive historic campus. The Wren Preservation project is nearly complete. This year-long effort addressed moisture-related and maintenance issues in the nation’s oldest university building, replacing the nearly 100-year-old roof, repairing gutters, stones, plaster, wood, bricks and mortar, as well as waterproofing the foundation and installing a new in-ground drainage system.

Space to Work and Play: Student-athletes train at the Mack; ISC4 is the home of the new School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics.

Elevating the Athletics Experience

An additional $6 million in gifts will further modernize Kaplan Arena and strengthen the broader W&M Athletics Complex. Generous support from Jane Thompson Kaplan ’56, P ’92, G ’17, Jill Ellis ’88, L.H.D. ’16, P ’27 and Betsy Stephenson P ’27, and the late Garner Anthony ’53 will ensure fans have the best seating to see the action, improved experiences in concession areas and more inviting hospitality spaces for gatherings. The funds will also allow for increased media broadcast capabilities so that fans can enjoy the games wherever they are. This additional investment builds on the leadership gifts from Katie Garrett Boehly ’95 and Todd Boehly ’96, and Jennifer Tepper Mackesy ’91 and D. Scott Mackesy ’91, which launched the athletics complex project and inspired many others to support it. The recent gifts bring the total amount of private funds raised for the complex to more than $40 million.

left image of people signing a beam, right image of Robert M. Gates