(Posted October 9, 2006)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Thomas R. Kepple, president of Juniata College, will dedicate the totally refurbished south wing of Brumbaugh Academic Center in honor of the principal donors for the project, telecommunications entrepreneur John Dale, and his wife, Irene, in a ceremony at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 20 in the south entrance of Brumbaugh Academic Center on the Juniata campus. \"John Dale has been one of our most visionary alumni and trustees, and his vision of creating a collaborative atmosphere for the business, information technology and communications department gives Juniata students a distinct advantage for experiential and collaborative learning,\" Kepple says. The south wing of Brumbaugh Academic Center, now known as Dale Hall, has been refurbished and reimagined as a learning and service center focused on business, information technology and communication. The wing formerly housed chemistry faculty and science laboratories. The new configuration has added several new classrooms, several new technology labs and brought faculty offices from the business, communication and information technology departments into the wing. In addition, the college\'s technology services offices, such as the Teaching Learning Technology Center, the Digital Media Zone and the Computer Help Desk, all are housed in the lower floor of Dale Hall. The business and information technology faculty offices are located in the top floor of Dale Hall and the Department of Communications will occupy offices on the hall\'s lower floor starting in spring semester. The dedication will open with remarks from David Andrews, chair of Juniata\'s board of trustees. Juniata President Thomas R. Kepple will start the dedication ceremony and then ask representatives from Juniata\'s faculty, student body and from principal donors to \"accept\" the wing for the college. The faculty representative will be Loren Rhodes, Dale Chair in Information Technology. The student representative will be Jigar Patel, a junior from Jonestown, Pa. studying information technology. Irene Dale, a 1958 graduate of Juniata, will accept the building. John Dale, a 1954 Juniata graduate, and his wife, Irene, have been principal donors for several information technology-related projects at the college. Their most recent donation was $300,000 to help refurbish Dale Hall. To date, the Dales have contributed $4.2 million to create the college\'s Information Technology program and have funded a science and technology scholarship program for entering students. They also support several student scholarships. Their combined gifts of more than $6 million makes the couple the second largest donor in the history of the college. John Dale is a retired executive vice president of the telecommunications software consulting firm Dale, Gesek, McWilliams and Sheridan, a computer software, services and consulting business specializing in telecommunications and networking technology and products relating to those areas. In 1995, the DGM&S firm merged with Comverse Technologies Inc. and Dale retired in 1995 as executive vice president of DGM&S. Dale has been a member of Juniata\'s Board of Trustees since 1997. He also served on the college\'s Alumni Council from 1995 to 1997 and serves on the college\'s Information Technology advisory board. He earned a bachelor\'s degree in mathematics from Juniata College and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin. He returned to Juniata as an instructor of mathematics in 1955. In 1958, he left Juniata to enter graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a master\'s degree in mathematics in 1960. Dale started his career in business in 1960, after accepting a computer programmer position at RCA. He left RCA in 1967 to become telecommunications division manager for National Computer Analysts in Princeton, N.J. In 1968, he was promoted to vice president of the company. In 1970, Dale became a consultant in telecommunications, forming Technology Management Group in Princeton, N.J., with Rex McWilliams. In 1974, the consultancy was expanded and renamed Dale, Gesek, McWilliams and Sheridan (DGM&S). Dale was a partner in the firm and held the title vice president of systems development. Dale lives in Medford, N.J. with his wife, Irene.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.