Illinois Athletics announced the family of John and Anne Dossey has pledged a $5 million donation to help finance the expansion of the Richard T. Ubben Basketball Complex. With this donation, there is now $8 million allocated to the renovations. 

The gift, pledged in the names of John and Anne Dossey’s parents, will create the John and Anne Dossey Student-Athlete Development Center inside the Ubben facility. The facility will honor the couple who were both educators. John Dossey earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Education in 1971. The project is still being designed, but it is expected the center will have study areas, dining spaces and the Ubben facility’s new strength and conditioning complex. 

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics set a goal early this year to raise $30 million to improve the Ubben Basketball Complex, and this recent contribution will make up roughly 27% of the target.

The upgrade will add about 45,000 square feet to the building while remodeling more than 8,300 square feet of the current space. This update will make the Ubben Basketball Complex to more than double the size it is now. It’ll help accommodate two new half courts, world-class medical facilities, study spaces, larger staff offices, modernized locker rooms and team areas that will triple the current size as well as a two-story strength and conditioning area. 

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