A new $7.5 million gift from Ken Mehlman ’88, Franklin & Marshall College Trustee and Board Vice Chair, is the College’s largest gift in support of athletics and wellness. It will be used to begin construction of the Mehlman Strength, Conditioning, Wellness, and Performance Center, an innovative new facility that will be home to strength training, fitness and performance-centered growth.

“Ken’s gift is transformative and launches a new era of athletics and wellness at Franklin & Marshall College. Ken understands the power of fitness and performance for success in every endeavor, and the Mehlman Center will position our varsity athletes, all students, and the whole campus to thrive,” said Andrew Rich, the president of Franklin & Marshall College. “I want to thank Ken for his vision, leadership, and generosity. This is an extraordinary day for all Diplomats.”

A State-of-the-Art Home for Athletics and Wellness

The Mehlman Center will consist of 20,500 square feet of additional space for athletics and wellness. The Center will adjoin F&M’s Alumni Sports & Fitness Center and will provide a much-needed expansion of strength training, fitness, and wellness space for the College’s student body, of which more than 650 are varsity student-athletes and almost 600 more participate in intramural sports. New features will include power rack and weight stations, cardio stations, a 50-foot sled turf, a training annex, a nutrition education station, a recruiting suite, and strength and team coach offices. 

An additional 10,000 square feet of the existing Alumni Sports & Fitness Center will benefit from an interior renovation. Upgrades will include flexible and agile programming areas for all F&M students, multimodal space for individual and group activities, ergonomic rowing machines, a state of the art golf simulator and spaces intentionally designed to improve athletic performance.

Construction on the Mehlman Center is expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027 and to be completed in less than two years.

Empowering Peak Performance 

“This new facility is fundamentally about leadership, high performance and the nexus that exists between a strong body, a strong mind and strong professional success,” says Mehlman. “It's about learning to do hard things, challenging yourself and embracing the growth mindset at both a physical and mental level.”

Last month, the College announced the development of the Leadership & Performance Lab, which will be piloted this academic year thanks to a $500,000 gift from Mehlman. The Lab is part of a larger strategy to develop leadership, high performance, entrepreneurship and civic engagement for F&M students through intentional collaboration on- and off-campus with alumni, Lancaster leaders and experts in performance science.

Mehlman believes that F&M is uniquely positioned to equip our students to adapt to a rapidly changing world thanks to its engaging and challenging curriculum and equally robust and vibrant student life. It’s a combination that can be harder to find at larger schools or at institutions where students aren’t active participants in their own college experience. 

“In the next 25 years, success is going to require people to think outside the box, to handle pressure really well, to have a growth mindset, to be able to rebound and to see things that other people can't see,” said Mehlman. “At F&M, 100 percent of F&M students can participate and not just watch. They can play, and they can play hard. That’s true in the classroom as well: We're blessed with a faculty that is focused on not just researching for themselves but also alongside our students.”

Mehlman’s gift comes ahead of a milestone anniversary for Diplomat Athletics. The College will soon celebrate 150 years of varsity athletics when baseball, F&M’s first varsity sport, kicks off its  spring 2027 season. Over the past century and a half, F&M has secured more than 150 conference championships in addition to four national championships. Today, approximately 40% of F&M students participate in at least one of the College’s 28 varsity sports.

“As our athletic reputation soars, it serves to validate the excellence of the entire F&M experience,” said Lauren Packer Webster, director of athletics & recreation. “We’ve seen that play out many times over the past few decades. With each athletics facility investment, we’ve seen an immediate return in terms of team performance. We've done the work to position ourselves for the next level of sustained success.”

Wellness for Every Student

The Mehlman Center will be beneficial for the entire F&M community.

With the Mehlman Center’s significantly expanded capacity, larger teams can train together rather than in shifts, freeing time and space for individual and small-group workouts. The result is a more welcoming and accessible environment that fits students’ busy schedules and supports the well-rounded F&M experience — enabling fitness alongside academics, research, internships, leadership roles and campus life. When every student has access to fitness, they are better positioned to succeed.

“Student wellness is the foundation for excellence and peak performance,” Packer Webster continued. “Having a facility that emphasizes the value that we place on the wellness of all our students — that's going to be attractive to anyone. Students are going to perform better in all aspects of their lives, which is going to lead to greater fulfillment. It's going to lead to greater success, and in terms of retention, people want to be where they can thrive and belong.”

Philanthropy that Drives Momentum

“We’ve seen time and again that gifts like Ken’s inspire others to boost the trajectory of our student-athletes and other deserving F&M students,” said Trustee Dave Lehman, Ph.D. ’68, P’01, who frequently shares his belief in leadership philanthropy for athletics and student life.  “It’s this type of generosity that sustains the College and positions us to thrive for another 240 years.”

Lehman also leads by example. His 2014 gift to endow F&M’s wrestling program, a sport with more than 100 years of history and the College’s only Division I offering, has inspired others to support Diplomat Athletics and endowed scholarships that aid student-athlete recruitment.

“Ken’s historic gift in support of F&M athletics—and all students—is a game-changer,” says Eric Noll ’83, P’09, Chair of the Franklin & Marshall College Board of Trustees. “Thanks to leaders like Ken, and to the thousands of alumni, parents and friends of the College who have chosen to invest in our students and the programs that help them thrive in and out of the classroom, F&M’s reputation as a leading liberal arts college will only continue to rise.” 

Board-chair elect Matt DesChamps ’93 is a former student-athlete who was inducted to the Franklin & Marshall College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023 in recognition of his football career and his contributions to Diplomat Athletics.

“I have seen and experienced the transformational impact of philanthropy in college sports,” says DesChamps. “F&M is building extraordinary momentum — in athletics and across the College. The support of alumni and friends like Ken accelerates our progress and reinforces our commitment to leadership, athletic excellence and student well-being.”

Trustee John Greene ’99 is among the alumni who are leading efforts to build on that momentum for the Mehlman Center project. “Ken’s gift reflects the energy we’re feeling as Diplomats. We’re excited to get this project started and to welcome other philanthropic leaders along as we prepare for an incredible future at F&M.”