New Callaway Center recognized as `unifying place' for humanities


The merging of the former Physics and Humanities buildings into the renovated Loula Walker and Ely Reeves Callaway Sr. Memorial Center acknowledges much more than the addition of the connector that now links the two structures.

The Callaway Center, in the words of Emory College Dean David Bright, is "a unifying place" in the center of campus for the once-scattered humanities disciplines in the College.

Bright led a tour of the Callaway Center at a Nov. 2 dedication for the facility. The event was attended by Ely R. Callaway Jr. '40C, CEO of Callaway Golf Co., whose gift of Callaway Golf stock made possible the renovation of the two existing buildings and the construction of the five-story connector that comprise Callaway Center, which is named in honor of his late parents. Callaway was accompanied by members from three generations of his family.

What makes the Callaway Center unique, Bright said, is the addition of 15 classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art computer and audio/visual technology. One of those 15 rooms will be used by students in the new journalism program beginning next semester. The 15-seat room has computer workstations at each seat that will allow students to write and edit copy directly from their workstations.

The Callaway Center houses seven College departments: Classics, English, French and Italian, the Institute of the Liberal Arts, Middle Eastern Studies (formerly Near Eastern and Judaic Languages and Literatures), Religion and Spanish. Bright said that while most renovation projects result in a net loss of space because of fire code and accessibility requirements, the Callaway Center renovation resulted in a gain of 27,000 square feet, primarily because the elevators and restrooms that serve the center were placed in the five-story connector. Also adding to the center's square footage were buildouts of attic space in both the Physics and Humanities sections.

At the closing of the dedication ceremony at the quadrangle entrance to the center, Callaway quipped that when he was an undergraduate at Emory, he was "always too scared to even come in the Physics Building. I feel a lot more comfortable with it now. I think I could pass something in this building."

On a more serious note, Callaway praised the new facility as an achievement of which his parents would have been proud. "You have brought something to life that will be most rewarding for the people who study and work here," Callaway said. "It's a wonderful place for the community."

--Dan Treadaway


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