Marietta College has received a $55 million gift from Joe and Linda Chlapaty, the largest single philanthropic commitment in the college’s nearly 200-year history. President Kathleen Poorman Dougherty announced the gift during her State of the College address on Oct. 16, 2026, in Marietta. The announcement also marked the public launch of “The Campaign for Marietta College: More History to Make.”
The gift will fund a new graduate health sciences building for the college. According to the college, the building will include classrooms, labs, simulation spaces and collaborative learning areas. It will also support new graduate programs intended to prepare students for high-demand health care professions, with a focus on serving rural Ohio and Appalachia.
The gift will also pay for comprehensive renovations to the college’s three first-year residence halls. Those halls are Marietta Hall, which was completed in 1965, and Elsie Newton Hall and Mary Beach Hall, which were completed in 1957 and 1959. The plans include a new building connecting Elsie Newton and Mary Beach into a single first-year quad.
The Chlapatys’ connection to the college runs through their family. Their son graduated from Marietta College in 1997, and Joe Chlapaty later served as a college trustee. Joe Chlapaty did not attend Marietta himself and was raised in a blue-collar family. “Linda and I believe deeply in Marietta College and the human-centered education it provides,” he said in the college’s announcement.
College leaders said the commitment will shape what the school can do for students in the years ahead. “Joe and Linda’s commitment fundamentally changes what is possible for Marietta College,” Dougherty said. Board chair Dr. Jim Wilson, a member of the class of 1969, thanked the couple for investing in students and in the region.
The gift comes during a period of increased giving to the college. Marietta College was chartered in 1835, with its roots in Muskingum Academy, which was established in 1797. The college raised $16.1 million in fiscal year 2025 and more than $19.3 million in fiscal year 2026, before the Chlapaty gift was announced.
The projects named in the announcement address two parts of campus life: graduate study in health sciences and housing for first-year students. The college presented the health sciences building as a way to expand graduate offerings tied to health care needs in the region, and the residence hall work as an update to buildings that have housed first-year students for decades. The gift will be carried forward as part of the newly launched campaign.
Photo: Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0