Greenville-area community leader and philanthropist Daniel Spence and his late wife, Dorothy, each provided $2 million of a $4 million total gift to renovate the Academic Center. Spence said the motivation for their gift was to help generations to follow and to honor his family’s ties to the College. Daniel’s grandfather, Nathan Warren Harter, was a beloved member of the Thiel faculty. Several members of the Harter family are Thiel alumni.