A ceremony attracting students, administrators and alumni marked the opening of the Robert and Bernice Wagner Alumni House on Saturday, which officials hope will help Hoyas stay in contact once they have left the Hilltop.

The opening of the alumni house, located a block from Healy Gates, followed a 16-month renovation project of a former alumni house that closed in 1998. The $7.5-million project was financed primarily by private donations and the Wagners were the biggest benefactors.

The official opening ceremony, held in the midst of various Homecoming activities throughout the weekend, began with a mass and was followed by a dedication and blessing service. The ceremony closed with an open house during which attendees were given an opportunity to tour the house.

Among those speaking during the dedication were University President John J. DeGioia, Robert Wagner, and Mark J. Siskin, president of the Georgetown University Alumni Association, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

“The Robert and Bernice Wagner Alumni House is going to be a great place to bring together the university community, alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends,” William G. Reynolds, executive director of GUAA, said.

He added that the building’s “strategic location [also] reinforces the importance of our 140,000 alumni in the life of the institution and the importance of alma mater in the lives of our alums.”

The interior of the Alumni House includes a library, gallery, winter garden room, business center, sitting room and multi-purpose area. It also includes office space, where alumni outreach specialists will work to boost alumni donations.

Reynolds said that spaces such as the winter garden room will provide a place for lectures and receptions, while the business center will house Internet-ready computers for traveling alumni and students on campus to use.

The winter garden room, which adjoins the building’s courtyard, offers alumni an opportunity to leave their personal mark on the building. As part of the mass marketing and donation effort, organizers sold personalized granite pavers in the winter garden room and bricks in the courtyard to individuals and groups.

Another financing program for the Alumni House renovation was the creation of a colorful collection of caricatures of various alumni donors displayed on the walls of the winter garden room.

The building also houses a collection of university memorabilia. Yearbooks, reunion cups, pictures comparing Georgetown students’ lives in the past and present, and a bust of John Carroll brought from a cathedral in Baltimore were some of the objects on display. Reynolds said that he would like to add university books and sports items so that the Alumni House will be able to teach people about Georgetown’s history.

“We want to use the house as a communication platform,” Reynolds said. “I don’t want graduation to be the culmination.”

Many alumni who came to visit the renovated facility expressed their satisfaction at having a common place for Georgetown alumni and students.

“It’s very handsome, very comfortable here, and it’s a welcome addition to Georgetown,” said Esther ulligan, whose husband graduated from Georgetown in 1955.

Carol Harrison (SFS ’73) also said she was pleased with the Alumni House. “It’s important to have a gathering place for the alumni,” she said. “It’s beautifully done.”

Siskin’s remarks closed the dedication, after which Father James Walsh, S.J., an associate theology professor, gave official blessings and sang the alma mater.

DeGioia, Siskin, Reynolds and the Wagners all participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The open house followed the ceremony, bringing the event to a close.