COLLEGEVILLE, PA.- Ground was broken Oct. 30 for an architecturally significant addition to the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art on the Ursinus College campus.

The new Henry and June Pfeiffer Wing will be named for longtime Trustee and art museum supporter Henry 'Hank' Pfeiffer and his late wife, June. In conjunction with the ceremony, Mr. Pfeiffer received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree for his enthusiastic service to the College.

During the ceremony, Nancy M. Berman, President and Executive Director of the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation, said that "The groundbreaking announcement provides one of those rare occurrences when we can focus on that magic moment when dream, possibility and a clear vision begin the transformation into concrete reality and tangible opportunity.

She added that "the Museum has more than exceeded its original physical and programmatic blueprint. The museum has become a place pulsating with ideas, art, students, faculty, community, artists, art lovers, thinkers, making connections and enjoying the mind in new ways of learning and creative pursuit."

Ursinus President John Strassburger said of her parents, the Bermans, "their vision for the arts in a liberal arts college setting has been transforming."

The Berman Museum of Art has become an educational and cultural resource since the late Philip and Muriel Berman, business leaders and philanthropists, found a home for their extraordinary collections of contemporary sculpture, American paintings and works on paper and folk art, joining an existing collection of 18th and 19th-Century American and European paintings. Nearly 20 years later, the museum houses more than 3,000 notable works of art and attracts 35,000 visitors annually.

The Philadelphia firm Towers & Miller has designed a stunning new open storage addition for the study and exhibition of the Museum's permanent collection. The Museum opened in 1989 in the historic 1921 building that was formerly Alumni Memorial Library. Currently only a small portion of the permanent collection is on display, something the plan to add 6,000 square feet of space will remedy. The addition will also provide a works on paper study area for flat storage, lecture space and new galleries including a rooftop gallery for outdoor sculpture.

Lisa Hanover, the director of the Berman Museum since its inception, described Pfeiffer as a "pied-piper who has educated so many about the quality, goals, and achievements of this institution," and who has led by example.

"We are proud that the Henry and June Pfeiffer Wing of the Berman Museum of Art will be a lasting tribute to your investment in a vibrant program that characterizes the distinctive learning environment of Ursinus College.

Pfeiffer, a 1948 Ursinus graduate, is an unfailing advocate of Ursinus, and has represented the Admissions Office at countless recruiting programs and as the long-time leader of the North Jersey Alumni Area Club. He has served as Chair of the Alumni Loyalty Fund, as President of the Alumni Association, as a leader of the Board's Development Committee, and in all of the College's fund raising campaigns, including as a co-chair of the recently completed $120,000,000 Taking Our Place campaign. Except for a one-year interruption as required by the college's bylaws, Pfeiffer has been a member of the Ursinus College Board of Trustees continuously since 1978. He and his wife established an endowed scholarship at Ursinus. During his successful sales and executive career, he worked for several of the nation's leading paper companies, and earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University. Together with his wife, June, who died this past summer, he has been exceedingly generous to Ursinus, particularly to the Berman Museum of Art.

The Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation has made a $1 million gift to the $5 million expansion; and the Pew Charitable Trusts committed $350,000 in a challenge grant. In addition to the Berman Foundation, the Pfeiffers and The Pew Charitable Trusts, there were several major donors who contributed to the expansion.

In preparation for the addition, from January 20 through April 12, the Main Gallery will become a collections laboratory for over 3,000 works of art from the permanent collection, coming out of storage for assessment and study by the museum staff. The WORKS(S) IN PROGRESS exhibition will allow visitors to see "museum work" in action. The Front Gallery will highlight specific parts of the collection on a rotating basis. Several faculty on campus will integrate this process into their curricula � giving their students a chance to respond to and/or interpret pieces from the permanent collection. These responses will be exhibited with the pieces that have generated them.