In recognition of the gifts, Woodland College House will be renamed Fisher Hassenfeld College House, and an entrance to the Quad will be named the Fisher Hassenfeld Memorial Tower Gate.

The Fisher-Hassenfeld commitment is the lead gift in the transformation of the Quad into three distinct college houses.

"Alan Hassenfeld and Jerome and Anne Fisher have made a magnificent investment in undergraduate life at Penn," said Judith Rodin, Penn's president. "Generations of students will share our gratitude for their generosity."

Through the four-year Quad Renewal Project, buildings have been reconfigured to create new lobbies, computer labs, fitness rooms, music practice rooms, lounges with kitchens, libraries and seminar rooms.

The architectural features of the historically landmarked Quad buildings have been restored and the systems updated. In addition, the landscape has been enhanced to provide outdoor spaces for each college house and for all Quad residents.

The quality of life engendered by these changes inspired his gift, Jerome Fisher said. In the new common areas, students and faculty see more of each other and have "close bonding experiences" that will lead to lifelong friendships, he said.

Fisher Hassenfeld College House is the oldest part of the Quad and has undergone the most dramatic changes. It had only one public space before renovation; now it has extensive common spaces, a hallmark of the college-house system.

Fisher Hassenfeld Memorial Tower Gate is dedicated to the memory of Pennsylvanians who died in the Spanish-American War. The real and symbolic gateway to the Quad, it is "like walking into a new world – a world I would love to have been part of," Hassenfeld said

When he was at Penn, Hassenfeld said, there was little sense of community, with no activities in the dormitories. Like Jerome Fisher, he sees the college houses as being "about community, belonging and diversity."

The joint contribution "goes to the very heart of the Penn experience, enriching students' ‘homes' so that they are even more satisfying and supportive of academic life," said Philip Nichols, faculty director of college houses and academic services,.

Jerome Fisher is a former Penn trustee and a current overseer of Penn's Wharton School. Anne Fisher is an overseer of the Graduate School of Fine Arts. The Fisher Fine Arts Library and the Jerome Fisher Management and Technology Program are named in honor of their previous generosity to the University. They are members of the College House Advisory Board and the Academy of the University of Pennsylvania.

Fisher, a resident of Palm Beach, Fla., is the founder and chairman emeritus of the Nine West Group.

Through the Jerome and Anne C. Fisher Charitable Foundation, they have been major benefactors of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, the Israel Museum (in Jerusalem), the Strang Cornell Cancer Center, the Children's Medical Center of Israel, the Norton Gallery in Palm Beach and the Kravis Center, also in Palm Beach.

Alan Hassenfeld is a current member of Penn's Board of Trustees and an overseer of the School of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the Academy of the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the College House Advisory Board.

A resident of Bristol, R.I., he is chairman and CEO of Hasbro Inc., the international toy company.

Hassenfeld is a trustee of the Hasbro Charitable Trust and the Hasbro Children's Foundation, both of which provide major funding to Rhode Island institutions. He is founder and chairman of the Right! Now Coalition, which fosters government ethics and campaign reform, and is also chairman of the World Scholar Athlete Games. He has been a leader in rallying corporate executives to work with elected officials to end childhood hunger.

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