The Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation of West Hartford, CT, has made a $5,450 grant to Hartford Seminary to equip a new student reading room with state-of-the-art computers.

For the past two years, Hartford Seminary has been adding and modifying space to meet the need for additional study and community space for students.

In the spring, the Seminary converted the room that formerly housed its bookstore into a quiet reading room. The room is adjacent to the library, has study tables and also houses reference books and materials.

The five new computers in the reading room will allow students to access online library resources and work on their research without interruption.

?I am very grateful for this generous gift from our neighbor, the Hoffman Foundation,? President Heidi Hadsell said. ?Hartford Seminary is committed to ensuring that students have all the tools they need for a quality educational experience, and this grant allows us to provide first-class technology to our students.?

Other steps to support students taken by Hartford Seminary this spring include:

• Removal of tall shelving in the main Dillenberger Reading Room to allow for additional seating.
• Creation of a new multi-purpose student lounge, group study and break-out room in the main building at 77 Sherman Street to give students a place to sit and chat, work on projects together, or simply rest before and after classes.

In 2009, Hartford Seminary purchased a building adjacent to its campus to establish the Martin and Aviva Budd Interfaith Building, which houses a prayer room and a student lounge along with the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations.

These rooms, along with the conference hall that offers a beautiful view of the Park River, are used by the Seminary’s residential and regional students for weeknight and weekend gatherings.

About the Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation

The Hoffman Foundation, based in West Hartford, CT, was founded by Marion O. Hoffman and her sister Doris C. Chaho in 1983 and is currently run by Chaho’s daughter Marion L. Barrak. Maximilian Hoffman was one of the first distributors of foreign automobiles in the United States. Over the years, the Hoffman Foundation has supported charities in the areas of health and medicine, education, social and human services, and the arts in Connecticut and nationwide.

About Hartford Seminary

Hartford Seminary is an innovative and unconventional institution that has long led the way in new directions for theological education. Among its distinctives are:

• A tradition of distinguished scholarship and recognized leadership through the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
• Groundbreaking studies of religious trends and living faith communities in America through the Hartford Institute for Religion Research
• A special commitment to developing the religious leadership skills of African Americans, Latinos/as, women, and chaplains
• Housing two prestigious and widely-known scholarly journals, The Muslim World and the International Journal of Practical Theology
• A strong student-oriented curriculum hat remains responsive to the changing needs of national and international religious communities
• Highly productive, creative, and dynamic faculty members who are leaders within their respective academic disciplines and guilds
• A seminary community marked by a breadth and depth of diversity by denomination, race and ethnicity, vocation, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation

For further information, please contact David Barrett, Director of Public and Institutional Affairs, at dbarrett@hartsem.edu or 860.509.9519.