Eureka College - Overview

Overview

The school's main library, Melick Library, was named in honor of Wesley M. Melick and Clinton F. Melick. The building was dedicated on September 28, 1967, by California governor and Eureka College alumnus Ronald Reagan '32, who was later elected President of the United States.

Eureka College failed the United States Department of Education's financial-responsibility test in the years 2007-09, but has made strong improvements in financial stability based on record enrollments for five straight years leading up through the 2011-2012 academic year.

On October 26, 2010, the College announced that it will build a new residence hall and renovate several existing residence halls, in what college officials are calling the most comprehensive and costly facilities project in college history. The Eureka College Board of Trustees voted October 8 to construct a $6 million residence hall on Reagan Drive and make $5 million in updates to existing living quarters.

On Friday, February 11, 2011, the Peoria Journal Star online edition stated that, "Eureka College has received a major gift from Mark R. Shenkman to create a Reagan research center in Melick Library on campus. The gift ranks among the most important in the history of the college's relationship with the life and legacy of Ronald Reagan. The Mark R. Shenkman Reagan Research Center will attempt to acquire and house every book written about Reagan. The center will be open to the Eureka College community and scholars from around the world; it will be, when completed, the second largest center of Reagan memorabilia in the world after the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. Planning for construction has begun, with a goal to complete the center by the end of 2011, the year marking the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth. Shenkman is a member of the Ronald Reagan Society at Eureka College and founder and president of Shenkman Capital Management Inc., an investment advisory firm in New York."