The Peter Kiewit Foundation in Omaha has announced a $1 million challenge grant for the Morrison-Reeves Science Center at Hastings College. The college expects to break ground for the new $10 million facility this spring or summer.
 

The challenge grant is conditioned upon the college raising the balance of funds needed to complete the project by June 30, 2008. The college has raised approximately 50% of the campaign goal.
 

The Peter Kiewit Foundation was established in 1980 through the estate of Omaha businessman Peter Kiewit, who served on the Hastings College Board of Trustees from 1965 to 1979. The foundation awards grants in the areas of youth programs, civic affairs, community development, and health and social service.
 

“Peter Kiewit was an important and influential person in the history of Hastings College, and the foundation that bears his name has been a generous friend over the years,” said Dr. Phillip Dudley, Jr., college president. “This challenge grant from the Peter Kiewit Foundation not only provides much-needed financial assistance, we believe it will also inspire other foundations and friends to give their support.”
 

The Morrison-Reeves Science Center will provide approximately 52,600 square feet of classroom, laboratory and office space for the departments of biology, physics, chemistry and psychology. It will be named in honor of Ken Morrison, trustee at Hastings College from 1981 to 1999, and Dr. Thomas Reeves, president of Hastings College from 1985 to 1995.

Peter Kiewit, a native of Omaha, began working for his father’s construction company when he was 14 years old. Under Kiewit’s continued leadership, the company became one of the largest employee-owned businesses in the United States. Kiewit was a philanthropist and community leader for numerous projects in Omaha. He did not believe in inherited wealth, and made plans for his personal estate to become a private charitable foundation upon his death.