Courtesy | Max Cote
The Diana Davis Spencer Graduate School of Classical Education Building is now open, providing lecture halls, seminar rooms, and office spaces for faculty from several departments, according to Chief Administrative Officer Richard Péwé.
The opening of the classical education building is one of many summer construction and renovation projects, Péwé said. These projects also include reopenings in the Grewcock Student Union and renovations to the Knorr Student Center, which have caused several campus departments to relocate.
The classical education building has 18 faculty offices, according to Provost Christopher VanOrman. Eight of the nine education professors chose to move to the new building, while the remaining 10 offices were offered to professors based on seniority. As a result, the building hosts professors from many disciplines.
“I had a list of people who had requested to move, so I just went by pure seniority,” VanOrman said. “That’s how I got English, theology, some math, and computer science there.”
The lower floor of the Knorr Student Center closed for construction in early August, prompting Career Services and the Writing Center to relocate to the fourth floor of Lane Hall. The audiovisual department moved to the Fowler Maintenance Building. Security should remain accessible in the same location on the lower floor of the Knorr Student Center, according to Péwé. The upper floor, containing the Old Snack Bar, closed in June.
“We had to clear everybody out that was going to be in the way or too disrupted,” Péwé said.
According to Péwé, the admissions office and the college bookstore will move into Knorr when renovations conclude in September 2027.
“There’ll be a nice continuity between Searle events and visitors, and there’ll be a direct path from the Dow Hotel,” Péwé said. “You’ll be able to continue on into the bookstore, and then you’ll be able to go through the bookstore to the admissions office.”
Péwé said he expects the first stage of the library renovation, which includes the circulation desk and front stairwell construction, to conclude in mid-to-late October.
“The circulation space is totally different: there’s a higher ceiling, new wood, painted wood trim, and plaster ceilings,” Péwé said.
The Grewcock Student Union underwent many repairs over the summer, and the Formal Lounge and Raese Room have reopened. Notably, the space was recovered after the flood that closed the building for a day in January.
“The Formal Lounge has been restored from the flood and the Raese room, which is your conference space, got new carpet, new paint, new walls, and a new ceiling,” Péwé said.
The front doors of the Student Union remain closed, but Péwé expects them to reopen in mid-October.
“By October, the portico will be done,” Péwé said. “There are spaces underneath the arcades. They’re little niches, and you can have student groups and study areas.”
The front doors of Christ Chapel, which Péwé said closed right after commencement, will reopen around the same time as the front doors to the union, revealing a small cement walkway between the front doors of both buildings.
However, the second stage of the library construction, including the doors to the quad and a new upper floor with more study spaces, will continue into December 2027, Péwé said.
The opening of the classical education building freed up other desirable offices for junior faculty, creating a cascade of office moves between dozens of faculty members, VanOrman said.
“Education happened to be in one of the prime locations. Third floor Lane had really nice offices,” VanOrman said. “I put an email out, and I said, ‘If you are interested in moving offices, please let me know, and I’ll put you on a list to do that.’ I ended up having 57 office moves all together.”
As a result, VanOrman had to expedite the moving process, skipping standard repairs.
“There’s no way that I could have maintenance do that many moves in a summer. If an office needed major work like painting or needed holes repaired, you had to move in as is, and then you could put a work order in,” VanOrman said. “When maintenance has time, they’ll come around and do that. I also limited how much time faculty had to move.”
Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Faculty Thomas Treloar moved into Spencer and said he is pleased with the new space, but skeptical about the lack of white or chalkboards.
“I am teaching in Spencer 218, which is the most beautiful classroom on campus and also has the best view from any classroom on campus,” Treloar said. “That said, it also doesn’t have boards, chalk or white. As a mathematician, that is where it gets interesting. I have been working with our wonderful ITS department to get the technology into the classroom so we can use the classroom projectors in place of boards.”
While construction can be hard on students, Péwé said he is considering showing students the progress behind the fences to yield a better understanding of what is in store.
“I would like to give some peeks of the progress so that it will encourage the students,” Péwé said. “I think we could do some things in a very organized fashion.”
