Editors: For photos of the interior of the new Humanities Building prior to the Nov. 15 ceremony, contact Janet Johnson at 303-883-1487.
A dedication ceremony for the University of Colorado at Boulder聮s new $10.8 million Humanities Building will be held Monday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. in the building聮s auditorium.
President John Buechner, Chancellor Richard Byyny and Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Spear will speak at the afternoon dedication ceremony.
Opening for classes next semester, the Humanities Building occupies the last remaining Boulder campus site fronting on Norlin Quadrangle, the earliest campus space to be ringed by buildings dating from 1876.
"The Humanities Building represents our commitment to excellence in the humanities and to providing an outstanding liberal arts education to our students," Spear said.
The building contains classrooms primarily for courses in the humanities and social sciences, and office space for four departments.
French and Italian, classics, religious studies and East Asian languages and civilizations are the four departments assigned to occupy the new structure. The faculty office space will house the four department chairs, approximately 39 faculty offices, departmental support, instructor and graduate assistant office space, and departmental conference rooms, seminar rooms and a reading room.
In addition to new facilities for four humanities departments, the Humanities Building includes 19 classrooms equipped with cutting-edge instructional technology, according to Spear.
"The new Humanities Building will improve the quality of education we provide to students at the University of Colorado and thus enhance their future contributions to their professions, families, communities and the world," he said.
The Woodbury Building also was renovated and now houses offices for the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Advising Center and additional faculty offices. Also, Woodbury is attached to the new structure and will now be accessible to the handicapped.
The total project cost was $14,730,262, with design, construction and furnishings of the new building costing $10,782,910, and renovation of Woodbury costing $3,947,352.
Norlin quadrangle and its buildings are listed on the national and state registers of historic places. The new building is consistent with the "Tuscan Vernacular" style established on CU-Boulder聮s campus by architect Charles Z. Klauder in 1919. The body of the building is made from local sandstone, the window and door openings are trimmed with limestone, and the roof is of red clay tile.
Twenty-four deciduous trees, 17 evergreens and more than 180 shrubs are being planted around the new building.
CU-Boulder offers 17 undergraduate majors in the humanities, ranging from religious studies to languages and literature, not including the arts. About 2,500 undergraduates are majors in the humanities programs and many more students are enrolled in humanities courses each semester.
The campus also offers 11 graduate programs in the humanities with about 400 students majoring at the graduate level.