Finding adequate undergraduate classroom space in the heart of the campus has been a persistent challenge over the past several years for faculty and administrators alike.
Although the closing of the Physics Building for renovations last summer temporarily added to that challenge, the building's scheduled opening this summer as the Loula Walker and Ely Reeves Callaway Sr. Memorial Center will provide Emory College with a tremendous boost in classroom and faculty office space. The project was made possible by Emory alumnus Ely R. Callaway '40C, chairman and CEO of Callaway Golf Co., who pledged a gift of Callaway Golf stock for the renovation project as part of the five-year Emory Campaign. Callaway made the gift to Emory along with his wife, Cindy Villa Callaway.
Current plans for the $7.5-million Walker-Callaway Center project call for classroom and seminar space, a computer lab for graduate students, and teaching assistant offices on the first floor; faculty and departmental office and seminar space for the religion department on the second floor; Women's Studies and Near Eastern and Judaic Languages and Literatures on the third floor; Institute of the Liberal Arts (ILA) space on the fourth floor; and various areas for the Spanish department, ILA and visiting faculty offices on the fifth floor, which originally was the attic.
In addition to the existing 33,000-square-foot Physics Building, the Walker-Callaway Center also will include the Humanities Building and a five-story, 13,000-square-foot connector linking the two buildings. The connector will house additional classrooms as well as restrooms for both adjoining buildings. Because occupants of the Humanities Buildings will use the new restrooms in the connector, existing restroom space in Humanities will be converted to offices and seminar rooms. Other minor improvements also will be made in that building.
Tippett Clepper & Associates designed the project, and Batson-Cook Co is the general contractor.
Vice President for Institutional Advancement Bill Fox noted the significance of Callaway's gift to the Emory Campaign. "Ely Callaway's gift is one of the largest individual gifts Emory has ever received from an alumnus," Fox said. "[He] is a dedicated alumnus of Emory and a true philanthropist. His gift will truly make a difference to Emory and will take its place as one of the remarkable demonstrations of alumni support and leadership in Emory's history."
--Dan Treadaway