Several classrooms at Fresno Pacific University will soon undergo renovation thanks to a $700,000 gift from anonymous donors.
The gift will allow for seven spaces on the FPU main campus to be renovated. The project will include updated technology, improved lighting, new flooring and a refreshed classroom environment. All of this is intended to better support teaching and learning at FPU. University leaders aim to complete the project in time for the start of the 2026-2027 academic year.
The donors were inspired to give after one of them attended a class led by FPU professor of English Eleanor Nickel. Nickel was teaching a class on C.S. Lewis in one of the university’s newly renovated spaces. While listening in on the class, the donor saw firsthand the positive impact that these upgraded spaces have on both students and faculty.
During the class, Nickel and the students shared about what the renovated classroom used to be like. The building they were in was built in the 1960s and still had the original radiators used for heating. Though they made plenty of noise, they did little to increase the temperature in the room. The projectors were dim, requiring the room lights to be off. Nickel noted that a dark, noisy, cold room was not ideal for students remaining alert.
That all changed with the last round of renovations.
“Now, the classroom is cool or hot as needed, perfectly quiet and shiny and bright,” Nickel said. As for the future upgrades, Nickel believes they will benefit not only the students but faculty as well. “The upgrades are really good for morale. Walking into a bright, functional classroom makes a real difference for both students and faculty.”
The renovations will positively impact hundreds of students a year, as well as outside groups who use the spaces.
Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director of the FPU Foundation Liz Garvin emphasizes the broader significance of the gift.
“Every gift is a meaningful investment in the future of Fresno Pacific,” Garvin says. “Through the generosity of donors like these, we are able to enhance the day-to-day experience of students and faculty and impact the future of the university.”
Garvin also notes that all gifts make a difference toward the goal of bettering the student experience at FPU.
“Gifts come in all sizes, and each one helps further our mission to make Christ-centered education possible,” she says.
Fresno Pacific University is California’s Central Valley’s only accredited Christian university, connecting every student’s untapped potential with unlimited opportunity for professional, personal and ethical growth. Nonprofit and independent, FPU offers more than 100 areas of study to about 4,000 traditional undergraduate, adult degree completion, graduate and seminary students at the main campus in Southeast Fresno and throughout the Valley at regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and Merced as well as online.
