Major gifts from SNC benefactors Jim and Miriam (Brozyna) ’69 Mulva will boost De Pere life just across the river from campus.

Generosity of the Mulva Family to Impact De Pere Community

News last month of a $27 million new school and parish center for De Pere follows two weeks after the release of plans for a proposed $50 million art center for the city.

Both projects are gifts of the Mulva Family Foundation, a philanthropic initiative of St. Norbert benefactors Jim and Miriam (Brozyna) ’69 Mulva. Their transformative vision for the region stands to benefit city and college communities alike.

President Brian Bruess ’90 says, “The Mulva Cultural Center will be an invaluable resource to the state, region, Greater Green Bay area, and De Pere. The aesthetic contribution will be stunning, and the educational and economic impact will be significant and endure for generations. Miriam and Jim's commitment to the city of De Pere, our local community, Catholic schools, and St. Norbert College is legendary. They are philanthropic Titans with clear vision and purpose, and the impact of their generosity is transformational.”

New school and parish center
On May 14, the Mulvas announced they would work with Notre Dame School of De Pere and the Catholic churches on the city’s east side to construct a new three-story school as well as a new parish center for St. Francis Xavier.

The project will replace the existing Notre Dame Elementary School building with a state-of-the-art school that will merge both the elementary and middle schools, currently located two blocks apart. The new school will feature 87,000 square feet of space with cutting-edge classrooms and flexible learning spaces. Part of the project will include a new parish hall for St. Francis Xavier to replace the Dolski Parish Center.

New cultural center
Jim and Miriam have a vision for the City of De Pere as a place to showcase world-class art and culture that will enrich the surrounding communities and attract visitors. That vision took concrete shape earlier this month when they unveiled plans for the construction of the Mulva Cultural Center, announced last fall. When completed, the new three-story 60,000-square-foot building will house exhibit and performance spaces, classrooms, an outdoor terrace and a veterans’ memorial.

“The full scope of this project will both inspire and transform our region culturally and artistically for generations to come,” says De Pere Mayor Mike Walsh. “We are immensely grateful to Jim and Miriam Mulva for making possible this tremendous gift from the De Pere Cultural Foundation, and to be considered as the location for such an impactful development.”

Twin commitments to city, Catholic education
The new Notre Dame School of De Pere is set to begin construction during the 2019-20 school year, with completion anticipated in August 2020. The Mulva Cultural Center will follow with plans to break ground in 2020 and open to the public in 2022.

“For Jim and me, Catholic faith and Catholic education have been the bedrock of our lives since we were growing up in De Pere,” says Miriam Mulva. “We both attended Catholic schools in the city. Now, when we are in town, we attend Mass at and support the Catholic parishes of St. Francis Xavier and St. Mary. So, in our longstanding dedication to Catholic education and the De Pere community we so dearly love, we are pleased to make this gift to the St. Francis Xavier and St. Mary parishes, which own the buildings that house Notre Dame School.”

Miriam Mulva is an alumna of St. Norbert College. Three campus buildings bearing the Mulva name stand witness to their generosity: the Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center, the Gehl-Mulva Science Center, and the Mulva Library, which turns 10 this year. The Mulvas, generous to the college in many other ways, also gifted the landmark sculpture at the northwest corner of campus, “The Conversion.”

Jim and Miriam, both originally from De Pere, returned to build a home in the area after Jim’s retirement as chair and CEO of ConocoPhillips.

June 4, 2019