February 5, 2008

by Darla Martin Tucker

La Sierra University expects a long-planned president’s home will be built on campus this year, thanks to a benefactor who contributed $1.25 million for the project.

Builders will construct the five-bedroom, four-bath home using a Griffin Industries executive home design that was utilized in the nearby Riverwalk community.

They will build the house near La Sierra’s astronomical observatory and art gallery, on the upper edge of the campus’s slope. The university has yet to determine a builder for the project.

The front portion of the home will face the slope incline. The back portion, designed for hosting student and faculty groups, receptions, meetings and other affairs, will overlook the university and valley. The master plan calls for a guesthouse to be built next to the residence in order to care for university guests.

The plan for the president’s house calls for an open main level and ample outdoor spaces to allow the maximum number of guests.

University President Randal Wisbey announced the donation for the home during a reception Thurs., Jan. 10, at the university’s Alumni Center. The president’s house donor, an alumnus who wishes to remain anonymous, chose the proposal from a slate of university projects.

Former La Sierra University President Larry Geraty spearheaded the president’s house concept and asked that space for the residence be included on the campus master plan. The La Sierra University Board of Trustees approved the house proposal on May 12, 2005.

Geraty led the university from 1993 until his retirement on June 30, 2007.
While campus housing for university leadership is typical at other educational institutions, it is relatively uncommon among Seventh-day Adventist schools, said Geraty, now serving as La Sierra’s president emeritus.

However a recently built, donated president’s residence at Pacific Union College, over which President Richard Osborn presides, has proven highly beneficial to the Adventist school in Angwin. “It has become a wonderful social center and has helped bring people together on campus,” Geraty said.

Wisbey began his tenure at La Sierra’s helm on July 1, arriving from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Md. He served as CUC’s president for seven years.
While there, he and his family lived in the president’s residence. The donated structure, a columned, Georgian-style four-story home, enabled the family to host concerts, alumni gatherings, freshman orientation meetings, student leadership meetings and other events.

The planned La Sierra president’s home “will provide a tremendous resource for the campus,” Wisbey said.

Calabasas-based Griffin Industries created the Riverwalk housing development across from La Sierra after purchasing 200 acres of university property in 2000. Paul Griffin III, the company’s president and chief executive officer, is a member of the La Sierra University Foundation board.

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)