Chancellor Robert Coombe and University officials announced on Monday that a new building for engineering, computer science and the Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging will be built between Olin Hall and the Newman Center for the Performing Arts.

“It is a great, great day in the life of our university, one that we’ve been hoping for for a very long time,” said Coombe.

Although exact architectural plans for the new building are still being discussed, the building will be five stories tall and approximately 110,000 square feet according to university architect Mark Rodgers. The building has not yet been given an official name.

Rodgers said this will be a significant increase from the spaces on campus that are currently used for computer science and engineering, which currently compile about 7,000 square feet total. Rodgers said plans should be finalized by the end of this year, with construction lasting 18 to 24 months after that. He also said the new building will be built with LEED sustainable certification requirements in mind, and that plans currently include a copper roof.

The new building will be constructed using gifts totaling over $40 million from three primary donors: Betty Knoebel, the Bill C. Peterson Estate, and Chancellor Emeritus Dan Ritchie, according to a DU Today article released Monday. The same article cites Ritchie’s gift of almost $27 million, which he said he planned to give to DU upon his death through his will, as the largest single donation made in DU history.

He decided to give the money after hearing from colleagues that there aren’t enough American engineers in the workplace available for hire.

He decided DU’s facilities and programs should be updated to meet a new and growing demand for graduates trained in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.

The School of Engineering and Computer Science will be renamed the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science, in honor of Ritchie’s father, Daniel Felix Ritchie.

Coombe said DU is especially excited about the new building because it will allow for an expansion of DU’s STEM programs.

“In science, in engineering, in technology disciplines, we face enormous challenges and enormous opportunities,” he said. “Today, these are the disciplines that are driving the growth of the worldwide economy.”

Provost Gregg Kvistad said DU hopes to increase its current number of engineering and computer science students from approximately 450 students to about 600 students. He also said that the new programming will increase the number of faculty positions in engineering and computer sciences from 27 to 36.

“We have wonderful faculty and we have wonderful students, and all we don’t have is the wonderful facilities,” Ritchie said. “This building is going to make a huge difference for the university, for our faculty, and for our students.”