Don and Lora Peters gave a $1 million gift in support of an expansion and renovation of Tulane Athletics’ academic center. Since the beginning of Tulane University’s Only the Audacious campaign, the couple has given over $4 million in support of Tulane Athletics. The state-of-the-art facility will be named the Don and Lora Peters Academic Center.

The gift kickstarts a $2.2 million fundraising campaign to address a substantial infrastructure enhancement to the academic services center, which has not received a significant renovation in two decades, with a planned opening in fall 2021.

“The most important job of the athletics department is to ensure that the students get a first-class education,” Don Peters (A&S ’81) said. “An additional goal is to lead its conference with the highest graduation rate and team GPAs. Tulane should also be among the best in the NCAA in these metrics. Renovating the academic center will help the university achieve these objectives and we are delighted to have played a role in getting this launched.”

Once completed, the new facility, still in the James W. Wilson Jr. Center, will significantly enhance Tulane’s academic departmental workspace and provide the latest learning technology for the department’s 350-plus student-athletes.

“The completion of the Don and Lora Peters Academic Center is a critical piece to ensure that our student-athletes will continue their standard of academic excellence for years to come,” Tulane Director of Athletics Troy Dannen said. “I would like to thank both Don and Lora Peters for their commitment to our student-athletes to get this project off the ground and to make it a reality.”