Niagara University has received $1.5 million toward two major capital projects from the Higher Education Capital Matching Grants Program. The award will be applied to the construction of the university's Academic Complex, home to the colleges of Business Administration and Education; and to the renovation of the Gallagher Center dining facility.

"The addition of the Academic Complex on Niagara's campus has enabled us to provide a state-of-the-art facility for our highly accredited colleges of Business Administration and Education," said the Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., university president. "Features like interactive technology, model classrooms, and our financial services lab provide numerous opportunities for our students to engage in active, integrated learning. This building is a prominent part of the transformation being made on campus."

Niagara's Academic Complex, an $18.5 million project that was completed in August of 2007, incorporates high-tech classrooms with hands-on interactive SMART board technology; podcasting and videoconferencing capability; a conference room and related support areas for the Family Literacy and Family Counseling centers in the College of Education, and the Family Business, Supply Chain Management, Technology Transfer, and International Accounting Education and Research centers in the College of Business Administration; a high-tech financial services lab that functions as a stock exchange learning center; and "green" features for energy efficiency. It received Business First of Buffalo's "Brick by Brick" award for best educational project in 2008.

The Gallagher Center underwent a renovation in 2008 to establish a food court setting featuring a broad variety of food offerings, including Buffalo wings, beef on weck sandwiches, wraps, specialty salads, and fresh fruit smoothies. In addition, a Galley Market convenience store sells snacks and grocery items that students commonly use in their dorm rooms.

The HECap program provides funding for construction projects at private colleges and universities that are considered critical academic facilities or that are related to economic development, high technology, urban renewal, or historic preservation. The program matches $1 for every $3 raised for these projects and distributes the funds under a formula based on total student enrollment and student financial need.