The four most recent past chairs of the University of Dayton board of trustees are making significant financial contributions to the construction and development of a new student Health and Wellbeing Center scheduled to open in fall 2026.
The nearly $5 million in donations from prior chairs Mary Boosalis, Steve Cobb, Rick Omlor and Dave Yeager, along with their spouses, will support the 32,800-square foot facility where doctors, counselors and therapists will practice in the same space where students work out and enjoy physical exercise. It will include new spaces for both the UD Student Health Center and Counseling Center, along with enhancements and expansions to the RecPlex, making it a one-stop shop for all facets of student health.
"Our Catholic, Marianist values call on us to support the whole student — mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually," said UD President Eric F. Spina. "With the creation of the new Health and Wellbeing Center, we're making an investment in the holistic development of our students, ensuring they thrive and persist through graduation and beyond. I am so deeply grateful to these faithful lead donors for their generosity to UD and their deep care for our students."
The new center will increase health center appointment capacity by 80% and counseling center clinical hours by 46%. Staffing and programming will support overall health and wellness, and incoming undergraduate students will not have to pay out-of-pocket for services they pay for today, including common point-of-care tests, flu shots, intramurals, fitness classes and more.
"It's important to have a state-of-the-art facility to serve students, consistent with modern healthcare," said Omlor, UD board chair from 2022-2025 and past CEO and chairperson of water monitoring and sampling firm YSI Inc. "Our contribution is for the mental health section of the health and wellness project to address the increasing need for the facility and services the counseling center provides."
That need, Omlor said, was what motivated him and his wife, Elizabeth Hardy, a clinical psychologist in private practice, to give to the new center.
Cobb and his wife, Molly, had similar thoughts, and said they became more focused on the importance of student mental health and wellbeing after their youngest child, Emmy, now 26, attended UD from 2017-2021.
"Mental health is such an important topic that affects almost every family at the University of Dayton," said Cobb, UD board chair from 2013-2016 and retired CEO and chairman of global foodservice brand Henny Penny Corp. "Colleges are taking 18-year-olds and turning them into 22-year-olds, which can be such a volatile time in their lives in terms of friendships, relationships and their own growth and development. For UD to expand and invest in the resources for this is critically important."
The Cobbs said they noticed how Emmy's peers experienced more mental health challenges as college students than their older children did 10 years earlier.
"There are so many more challenges for students now than there were even 10 years ago," Molly Cobb said. "Part of that is social media, part of that is the pressure of high expectations. Seeing this in real-time led us to be supportive of anything that could give students tools to work with as they're growing and developing. This is needed more than ever."
In addition to the main facility, the Cobbs' gift will support The Wellness Experience Learning Lab, or The WELL, an integrative therapy space with holistic relaxation modules like muscle recovery tools, vibrating chairs and aromatherapy. The WELL came to UD for about three months last academic year as part of a traveling symposium, and, now, with the Cobbs' gift it will become a permanent fixture in the new building and in the Brook Center.
Yeager, former CEO and current executive chair of the Hub Group, a leading multimodal transportation company, was UD board chair from 2016-2019. He recalls discussions with University administrators more than four years ago about bringing more mental health resources to campus, which spurred him to give when the plan was announced.
"This gift evolved from a meaningful conversation with President Spina about the initiatives that matter most to the campus community," Yeager said. "When I learned how committed the administration was to advancing student health and wellbeing, I knew I wanted to help move that vision forward and invest in the future of students."
Boosalis, UD board chair from 2019-2022 and former president and CEO of Premier Health, and her husband, Tom Olsen, physician with Dermatologists of Central States, made a significant gift during early fundraising, one gift of several that propelled construction to begin. Boosalis said their gift will support mental health initiatives, particularly early intervention efforts for students facing mental health challenges while on campus.
"I think mental and physical health are inextricably linked," Boosalis said. "The new center aligns so well with the mission of UD – educating the whole person in mind, body and spirit. There is still some stigma surrounding mental health, so having a facility that brings it into the open is symbolic in acknowledging its importance."