In a major rebrand of one of its busiest academic hubs, Harvard announced Friday that the Science Center on Oxford Street will be renamed Zimmer Hall to honor the late neuroradiologist Alan Zimmer and to recognize a $100 million gift from the Zimmer Family Foundation made in 2018. The naming comes with funding to expand kosher dining options, including plans to add kosher service at Eliot House after its planned renewal, and aligns with a multi‑year program of upgrades to the building’s labs and lecture halls. Zimmer Hall sits at the center of undergraduate science teaching and student life, housing departmental offices, five large lecture halls, the three‑story Cabot Science Library and the Pritzker Commons.
University statement and the gift
“We are profoundly grateful to Stuart and Jennifer Zimmer for their remarkable generosity,” President Alan M. Garber said in a university release, crediting the couple with supporting both science teaching and student life. Harvard described the renaming as a recognition of the Zimmer family’s 2018 $100 million gift and said the family has worked with the university to implement recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on Antisemitism and Anti‑Israeli Bias. The announcement also said the gift will fund kosher‑dining enhancements across campus, including expanded menu variety and new service at Eliot House after its renewal, according to the Harvard Gazette.
The name and the Zimmers
Alan Zimmer, the building’s new namesake, was a neuroradiologist whose work helped advance the clinical use of CT and MRI in the United States. Stuart Zimmer ’91 and his wife Jennifer said the family hoped the renaming would “inspire generations of students” and that making kosher dining available at Eliot House would help Jewish students “feel genuinely welcomed and at home,” a statement quoted by The Harvard Crimson. University leaders framed the move as both an investment in a crucial physical space and in the campus community supports that surround it.
Renovations and what’s inside
The Science Center, which dates to the early 1970s, contains nine stories plus a basement and a rooftop observatory, and includes five large lecture halls and 16 smaller general‑use classrooms along with the Cabot Science Library. Harvard says renovations tied to the Zimmer family’s support began in 2018 and expanded with a December 2023 project that created roughly 20,000 square feet of new classrooms, labs and offices; four teaching labs were rebuilt with glass walls to make lab work more visible to passersby. The university closed Lecture Halls A and B for additional updates in summer 2024 as part of the phased modernization, according to the Harvard Gazette.
Kosher dining and campus context
The Zimmer family’s support will supplement other recent expansions of kosher dining across campus and is specifically earmarked to bring kosher options to Eliot House after its renewal project is complete. The renamed Zimmer Hall sits adjacent to the Science Center Plaza, a 2.3‑acre open space used for food trucks, seasonal programming and public seating; Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development declined to comment on whether the plaza’s name would change as well, The Harvard Crimson reports. University officials say the gift and the ongoing building upgrades are intended to boost undergraduate science teaching and community life.
