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Site preparation for the new Institute for the Arts and Humanities building --
the first new structure on McCorkle Place in 50 years -- begins this month.
Construction will take about 14 months.
Now located in the 1,100-square-foot West House, the new two-story Institute
building just south of Battle-Vance-Pettigrew will have a total of 15,000
square feet. A garden with trees and other landscaping are among the building's
many features. Cuttings from some of the smaller plants will be replanted in
other campus locations. Even the low stone wall now surrounding the site will
be stored and reused to build a new wall on the property and used to repair
walls on campus.
"The completion of the institute building will give a new definition to the
space before Hill Hall, an old space made new," said Ruel Tyson, director of
the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and professor of religious studies.
"I hope it will become combinations of Hyde Park Corner, an Italian piazza, a
town commons, with spaces convenient for the display and performance of arts
while students, staff, faculty and townspeople eat their lunches."
The site has a colorful history. The Poor House, a privately operated boarding
house in the mid-19th century, was likely the first structure on the site,
according to a 1997 excavation report by Carolina's Research Laboratories of
Archaeology. During the Civil War, many buildings fell into disrepair and were
abandoned, the Poor House among them. By 1883, the building was no longer
standing.
The site's second building, the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, was built
between 1908 and 1911. In 1929, the University purchased the Phi Delta Theta
property in exchange for a lot at 304 South Columbia Street. The building was
razed in the mid- to late-1930s.
The institute, the site's third building, is the only program at Carolina
offering fellowships, which are important in recruiting and retaining top
faculty. Since its founding in 1987, the institute has provided 195 fellowships
for faculty in the arts, humanities and social sciences. (See page 16 story for
list of 2000 fellows.)
The institute draws outstanding faculty into closer relationships with
colleagues and with the University and encourages them to continue their
careers at Carolina. All programs and fellowships are privately funded. The
institute is part of the College of Arts and Sciences.
In its new space, the institute will broaden its mission to include fellowships
for faculty in the University's professional schools, leadership training for
faculty serving as department and division heads, a new ethics program now in
development and public fellowships for citizens who will come to campus for
information and expertise useful in solving problems in their communities. The
institute will encourage and support faculty in using new technology in
teaching, research and service to the people of North Carolina.
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