A dream coming true

I get a little emotional about the South Lawn. I have been talking, thinking and dreaming about it since my earliest days as dean. And I am convinced that we can’t take Arts & Sciences to the level we want to take it without this beautiful new complex of buildings.

So it’s with great pleasure that I ask you to take another look at the cover of this magazine and to turn to pages 5 through 7 to learn more about the schematic plans that have been approved.

By building the South Lawn, we build on our key strength: the quality of the undergraduate experience. Our enrollment has grown, and that growth is expected to continue. We have begun hiring the faculty we need to keep the ratio of students to faculty at the level you may remember and today’s students deserve. But we have nowhere to put them, and the South Lawn will provide faculty offices and more. Classrooms with the latest technology and the most flexible arrangements will encourage effective and innovative teaching. Gathering spots, in the dramatic glass-walled Commons or the peaceful gardens outside, will encourage the conversations that begin in those classrooms to continue.

We still have work to do; we need to raise another $15 million in order to break ground for the project. Every day, construction costs increase. But I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to the alumni and friends who have donated nearly $30 million for the project — on the strength of dreams and sketches. It feels good to have the final vision before us and to have the chance to bring it to life.

Edward L. Ayers
Hugh P. Kelly Professor of History
Dean of the College and Graduate School
of Arts & Sciences