After years of plan­ning, fundrais­ing and con­struc­tion, the Ronald M. Auen Learn­ing Cen­ter at the Palm Springs Air Muse­um is now open to the pub­lic fol­low­ing a com­mu­ni­ty ded­i­ca­tion. The event hon­ored the lega­cy of long­time com­mu­ni­ty leader and phil­an­thropist Ronald M. Auen, who was the found­ing trustee of the Auen Foun­da­tion and served as Pres­i­dent and Chair­man of the Board of the H. N. and Frances C. Berg­er Foun­da­tion for more than 30 years. Both foun­da­tions were major sup­port­ers of the Learn­ing Cen­ter, the only build­ing to bear Auen’s name.

The state-of-the-art facil­i­ty expands edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents and vis­i­tors by sig­nif­i­cant­ly increas­ing its capac­i­ty to deliv­er STEM (Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy, Engi­neer­ing and Math­e­mat­ics) pro­gram­ming, work­shops and intern­ships designed to inspire future careers in avi­a­tion. The flex­i­ble space also serves as a the­ater fea­tur­ing a large LED screen and can be con­fig­ured for class­room instruc­tion, pre­sen­ta­tions and spe­cial events.

Locat­ed adja­cent to the muse­um’s main entrance, the Learn­ing Cen­ter sig­nif­i­cant­ly increas­es the muse­um’s capac­i­ty to deliv­er STEM (Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy, Engi­neer­ing and Math­e­mat­ics) pro­gram­ming, work­shops and intern­ships designed to inspire future careers in avi­a­tion. The flex­i­ble space also serves as a the­ater fea­tur­ing a large LED screen and can be con­fig­ured for class­room instruc­tion, pre­sen­ta­tions and spe­cial events.

 

Dur­ing the ded­i­ca­tion cer­e­mo­ny, Palm Springs Air Muse­um lead­ers were joined by Palm Springs City Coun­cilmem­ber Jef­frey Bern­stein and Catharine Reed, Ronald Auen’s daugh­ter and Senior Pro­gram Offi­cer of the Auen Foundation.

 

“He believed edu­ca­tion con­tin­ues through­out life—beyond any class­room,” Reed said. “He was gen­uine­ly curi­ous about the world and always inter­est­ed in learn­ing some­thing new. This is why the Palm Springs Air Muse­um meant so much to him. Most impor­tant­ly, it hon­ors mil­i­tary ser­vice, which he val­ued great­ly as an Army veteran.”

 

Mem­bers of the Auen fam­i­ly attend­ing the ded­i­ca­tion includ­ed Sher­rie Auen, Ron’s wid­ow and sole trustee of the Auen Foun­da­tion; Catharine Reed; Katie Reed; Lor­rie Mortensen; Kevin and Jay­ma Auen; and Nick and Eri­ca Auen.

 

Fol­low­ing the cer­e­mo­ny, fam­i­ly mem­bers, muse­um lead­ers and com­mu­ni­ty offi­cials par­tic­i­pat­ed in a rib­bon-cut­ting, offi­cial­ly open­ing the Ronald M. Auen Learn­ing Cen­ter to the pub­lic. A com­mem­o­ra­tive plaque hon­or­ing Ronald Auen is per­ma­nent­ly dis­played at the entrance to the facility.

 

Found­ed in 1996, the Palm Springs Air Muse­um is ded­i­cat­ed to edu­cat­ing and inspir­ing peo­ple of all ages through the his­to­ry of Amer­i­can mil­i­tary avi­a­tion and the ser­vice of those who defend­ed the nation’s freedoms.

The Muse­um is home to more than 75 his­toric air­craft span­ning World War II through Oper­a­tion Desert Storm and con­tin­ues to serve as one of the region’s pre­mier edu­ca­tion­al and his­tor­i­cal institutions.

 

The addi­tion of the Ronald M. Auen Learn­ing Cen­ter strength­ens the museum’s abil­i­ty to inspire future gen­er­a­tions through hands-on learn­ing, inno­va­tion and a deep­er under­stand­ing of Amer­i­ca’s avi­a­tion and mil­i­tary his­to­ry. The muse­um is locat­ed at 745 N. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it PalmSpringsAirMuseum.org or call 760–778-6262.