Before Thomas Sutton Hall was razed in the 1970s, the building’s stained glass windows were removed and placed in storage. The senior classes of 2013 and 2014 designated their class gifts to clean and restore the windows and hang them in the new building. All who pass through have a constant reminder of the past. John Sutton Hall can be seen through the window on the right and Stapleton Library through the window on the left. Photo: Keith Boyer
New Academic Building Is IUP’s First in 20 Years
By Regan Houser
As students and faculty members made their way across the lobby to class on the first day of the spring semester, many said the same thing:
“This feels like a real university!”
Not that attending and teaching classes in Keith and Leonard halls hasn’t constituted a solid university experience, but the new building that houses the departments of
English,
Geography and Regional Planning,
History,
Journalism and Public Relations,
Philosophy,
Political Science, and
Religious Studies has a wide-open feeling, as well as numerous spaces for students to tuck in and work on their own. Even better, the modern classrooms can accommodate technology today and for years to come.
In addition to 31 classrooms, totaling 1,835 seats, and 120 offices, the 126,505-square-foot building includes a 250-seat auditorium, a great hall, an atrium and Subway sandwich shop, eight conference rooms, two collaborative classrooms, a public artifacts room, specialty classrooms and labs, and a rooftop plaza for academic and social space. The building is surrounded by John Sutton Hall,
Stapleton Library, and Clark Hall.
After the ribbon was cut to celebrate the new building’s opening, Dean Yaw Asamoah presented ceremonial scissors to Deanne Snavely, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The university expects to construct its new science and math building by 2020. Photo: Keith Boyer
Charles Cashdollar ’65 (at left), professor emeritus of history, and Gian Pagnucci (at right), chair of the English Department, were among the speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Photos: Keith Boyer
A ceremonial ribbon cutting took place in January, at the end of the first week of classes. For Yaw Asamoah, dean of the
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, it was a joyous occasion to celebrate a new beginning for 7 of his college’s 11 departments and several programs. It was also a time to bid farewell to Keith and Leonard halls, which will be razed to make way for both the third phase of IUP’s dining replacement project and a new building for the
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The dean’s office and the departments of
Anthropology,
Economics, and
Sociology remain in McElhaney Hall, while the
Foreign Languages Department is staying in John Sutton Hall.
Kevin Patrick, a professor in the Geography and Regional Planning Department, taught in a roomy, modern classroom on the semester’s first day. Some of the old maps from Leonard Hall also made the trip to the new building. Photo: Keith Boyer
“For alumni—though they may be a little sad about seeing their familiar buildings go—they may now also celebrate that their alma mater takes a big step today in being agile and embracing necessary change,” Asamoah said.
Perhaps Gian Pagnucci, who chairs the English Department, described it best: “This is a magical place. It is the first new academic building at IUP in over 20 years. It is a place where students and teachers will learn together. It is a place where people will hang out, have fun, eat (healthily, at Subway), laugh, work hard, and feel their minds fill with wonder and knowledge. This building has everything. Not just the latest computer technology, the best new classroom facilities, beautiful artwork, a talking elevator that sounds almost like Siri, and the coolest water fountains, but the best thinking humanity has to offer.
“In this building you can read the greatest literature, the most brilliant philosophers, and the most cutting-edge journalists. You can explore the world’s geography, its religions, and its political systems. You can pursue the wisdom gained throughout human history. And, depending on who needs a classroom for teaching, you might also get a chance in this building to study sociology, economics, foreign languages, anthropology,
Asian studies,
Latin American and
Pan-African studies, and
women’s and gender studies. It’s all here, all that possibility, for today’s IUP students and for tomorrow’s. And there is one thing more, the best thing. This building is full of windows that let in the sunlight. So it’s the perfect place to sit and write—a report or an essay or maybe even a story. For so long, it seemed like we might never have such a place as this to learn at IUP.”
Left: The grand stairs connecting the first and second floors of the new College of Humanities and Social Sciences building. Right: Exterior of the new building. Photos: Keith Boyer
The grand stairs connecting the first and second floors of the new College of Humanities and Social Sciences building. Photo: Keith Boyer
A racist photo that went viral on social media has brought an age-old problem—at IUP and across the nation—to the forefront of campus business.
Considered Indiana Normal School’s guiding spirit, Jane Leonard inspired thousands of students and, perhaps, a U.S. president.
IUP is not an exception to incidents of intolerance and hatred in the form of racism. “If we expect today’s students to go forth and lead as they graduate, then we must provide them examples, and we must correct injustices at IUP right now.”
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