Penn State dedicates new $7M Mateer Building

Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 6, 1993

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Dedication ceremonies were held at Penn State University on Sept. 3 for the school's new $7 million Mateer Building, which houses its School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management.

The building is named for A. Laura Mateer of Fort Lauderale, Fla., an honorary alumna of Penn State, and the late M.C. "Matty" Mateer, a 1922 graduate, who helped establish Penn State's hospitality education program in the 1930s.

The 37,000-square-foot building will serve as both a laboratory for research on food-service facility design and engineering.

In addition to providing more space and better laboratory facilities as well as state-of-the-art equipment for teaching and research, the building includes:

* A production kitchen,

* A research and teaching kitchen/laboratory,

* Two dining rooms,

* Two technology laboratories,

* A computer information systems laboratory,

* A hospitality and recreation resource learning center.

The new building also will allow the school to expand its program of serving student-prepared and managed meals to the public, a tradition that began in the school's former Maple Room, on campus. The executive dining room will be available for reserved university or community functions as well, and students will provide the catering services required for these events. Proceeds generated from these operations will support the educational and research program of the school.

The majority of the Mateer Building's cost (approximately 70 percent) was funded by corporate and private contributions, with the rest coming from the university. Laura Mateer also contributed $1.5 million toward the construction of the building. Other major funding has come from the J. Willard Marriott Foundation, Hilton Hotels Corp., Hampton Inns Inc., Hoss's Steak & Seafood Restaurants, ARA Services, Eat 'N Park Restaurants, the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association and the Hotel Employee & Restaurant Employees International Union.

Penn State's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management, with programs dating back to 1937, enrolls 900 undergraduate and 55 graduate students in two programs: hotel, restaurant and institutional management and recreation and park management. Last year more than 75 hospitality-related companies came to the university to recruit students from the school.