May 4, 1999
LAWRENCE -- A new home for the School of Education at the University of Kansas will be honored with a groundbreaking at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 8, in 110 Budig Hall.
A former men's residence hall, Joseph R. Pearson, is undergoing a $14.1 million transformation to become the School of Education with offices, state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories and clinics. Classes will open August 2000 in the renovated hall. Renovation work began officially in August 1998.
"We selected May 8 for the groundbreaking to coincide with the spring meeting of our national advisory board," said Karen S. Gallagher, dean of the School of Education. Because construction is in progress at Joseph R. Pearson, it was more feasible to conduct a groundbreaking at another location, Gallagher said. The event is open to the public.
Funds for the renovation have come through the Kansas Legislature, which approved the $12.1 million renovation project included in the 1996 Crumbling Classroom funding for Kansas Regents universities. In 1998, the Kansas Board of Regents approved an additional $2 million to help furnish the Teacher Education Center. The school has begun a campaign to raise $3 million in private funds to complete the renovation.
At the groundbreaking, speakers will include KU Provost David E. Shulenburger, Dean Gallagher and Aura Negretti, graduating senior and president of the School of Education Student Organization. David Schmidt, chair of KU's School of Education Advisory Board, will also speak. Schmidt is president of Management Development Associates in Kansas City, Mo.
When completed, the renovated seven-story, 105,000 square-foot facility will house all of KU's School of Education in one location for the first time. Currently, the school is housed in Bailey Hall, the Robinson Center and the Dole Center. Education faculty members often must travel to additional buildings to teach classes.
Architects from Gould Evans Associates of Lawrence worked with KU education faculty, staff and students and with local school district educators to fashion a student-centered facility out of the 1958 residence hall. The hall's main entrance has been moved to the east side of the building, shifting the view to the Campanile, Potter Lake, the museums and the Kansas Union.
An addition being constructed on the east side will house the Teacher Education Center. The center will include several laboratories and teaching classrooms including a telecommunications classroom, an instructional design laboratory and a microcomputer laboratory.
The main building will include 18 classrooms and a clinical training and diagnostic services center in addition to offices.