The Ronald Reagan statue will move for the new grad school addition to the quad | Courtesy External Affairs

The college will break ground for the new Diana Davis Spencer Graduate School of Education behind Central Hall on May 12. 

The new building will contain four classrooms and nine offices on the first floor, and five classrooms and nine offices on the second floor, according to Provost Christopher VanOrman. 

“This building will be utilized by many of our faculty and not just for the education department,” VanOrman said. “It will house other faculty as well.” 

Construction will take about a year and a half, according to Associate Vice President for Curriculum and Professor of English David Whalen. 

“This construction will no doubt cause significant disruptions to the use of the quad, but once completed it will be a beautiful addition to the quad,” VanOrman said.

According to VanOrman, the new building will require moving the Ronald Reagan statue. 

Whalen said the expansion of the graduate program reflects the need for more physical space. 

“In order to accommodate the expansion in faculty, classes, and remote educational operations, a new building was designed by James McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C.,” Whalen said. 

The website for McCrery Architects says tradition inspires their architectural style.

“The proper practice of traditional architecture embraces the best of all periods and locales in a timeless, unbroken chain of buildings with lasting beauty and utility,” the website says. “When architecture is grounded in and engaged with tradition, it can intelligently propose and creatively project the future.” 

Chairman and Dean of the Classical Education Graduate school Daniel Coupland said the classical education program has admitted another 15 students for the upcoming academic year, totaling around 36 graduate students in that program. 

Coupland said the expansion of the graduate school is part of a greater endeavor. 

“A lot of this is driven by Dr. Arnn — he really cares about this program, and he really wants to see it thriving,” Coupland said. “He sees it as a part of an overall effort to improve education not just here at Hillsdale College but across the country.”

Whalen said the graduate school of classical education was conceived to address a need that Hillsdale can fill. 

“Classical schools around the country are in dire need of teaching and administrative staff who understand the western and American tradition, its great heritage of ideas, achievements, and figures, and who understand the first principles of moral and intellectual formation,” Whalen said. 

The new building will help meet the growing need for more classical educators, according to Whalen.

The graduate school, however, is part of a master architecture plan for the college, VanOrman said. 

“This master plan includes adding onto the backside of Central Hall, front addition to the library, and possibly the front addition of Grewcock Student Union,” VanOrman said. “These potential additions have not all been funded at this point.”