UI College of Public Health gets $105,000 gift

IOWA CITY -- A gift of $105,000 from Rick and Peg Breon of Grand Rapids, Mich., will go toward the construction of the first permanent home for the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Rick Breon earned a master's degree in hospital and health administration from the college in 1980.

The gift is part of the College of Public Health's ongoing $15 million fundraising campaign, Building Today for a Healthy Tomorrow, to finance the college's new academic building, and provide money for student and faculty support and other programmatic development. In recognition of the Breons' gift for the facility, an area in the building will be named in their honor.

Rick Breon is the president and CEO of Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, an integrated health care delivery system including eight hospitals, a 400-member physician group and a 600,000-member health plan. He has held numerous health care executive positions over more than 30 years in the field. 

The College of Public Health's new $47.7 million facility, under construction on a site formerly occupied by the UI International Center, is scheduled for completion in fall 2011. It will provide classrooms for the more than 380 students enrolled in public health degree programs, as well as offices for faculty in the college's five academic departments and core administrative staff.