Hundreds Sign Beam in Celebration of Construction Milestone of New Academic Building
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Assumption community gathered once again, just five months after the initial groundbreaking ceremony for the College’s new academic building, to sign the final steel beam of the construction phase, which will be placed over the building’s primary entrance. Attendees included Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D, Francis J. Bedard, ESQ., CPA ’81, members of the Board of Trustees, faculty and hundreds of students.
“This 20-foot beam will support an area through which will enter future business leaders, honors students, those with exceptional artistic talent and faculty driven to help their students succeed,” said Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., president of Assumption. President Cesareo added that this new academic center is yet another piece of Assumption effort to “Light the way.” for the College’s current, and future, students.
Once completed, the new 60,000 square-foot academic building, which has yet to be named, will provide space for learning, study, contemplation, and artistic expression and will contain 13 high-tech, flexible classrooms of varying sizes; seminar rooms; common study spaces; a 400-seat performance hall with a rehearsal room; a multi-purpose space; faculty offices for the Assumption Core Texts and Enduring Questions Program; the Business Studies Department; the Honors Program; the Center for Teaching Excellence; and a new Center for the Study of Ethics. The building is slated to be finished in the fall of 2017.
Francis J. Bedard, ESQ, CPA, chairman of the Assumption Board of Trustees, spoke on behalf of the Board. “This building will serve as a literal crossroads of the liberal arts, providing students a well-rounded education from which to pursue lives – and professions – of meaning through endeavors such as the Center for the Study of Ethics … a very tangible manifestation of the mission of Assumption,” he said.
Following a brief speaking program, attendees were invited to sign the 14-foot beam, thereby becoming part of both the history of the institution and the new academic building. Among the first invited to sign their names were members of the Board of Trustees as well as faculty and students from the Art, Music, and Theatre department; the Business Studies department; the Honors Program; and representatives from the Student Government Association.
“It’s great to see the new building taking shape, and our department is looking forward to moving into it,” said Jennifer Niece, CPA, chair of the Business Studies Department. “We are excited about the new classrooms that will offer the opportunity to enhance the use of technology as well as the collaborative learning techniques that we employ in our teaching.”
Kathryn Montgomery ’18, an accounting major and a member of Assumption’s Chorale, is looking forward to the new classroom, rehearsal and performance space the new building will provide. “As a student looking to major in business, I feel that this new academic center will be a great resource and focal point for this area of study,” she said, adding that having a rehearsal room as well as a performance space will be a great opportunity for the Chorale program as well. “Having an actual performance hall will benefit the program substantially by allowing Chorale to grow without limitations and aiding our need of an actual performing space to hold our concerts.”
Molly Flynn, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy and director of the Honors Program, eagerly anticipates new space in which to showcase students’ excellence in academics. . “The Honors Program has grown so much in the last decade and we’re looking forward to our new place in the new building,” she said. “We’re excited to see what the new study lounge will look like.”
Michael Doyle ’17, a biotechnology and molecular biology major and political science minor, is a member of the institution’s Honors program and believes being part of the new building will help the program thrive. “The Honors Program has always been a special part of this campus and I think that having a home in the new academic building will provide a chance to highlight the excellence the program strives to achieve in its students,” he said. “I am excited to see the potential the program will have in its new home and the new opportunities this will provide to its students.”
The beam, which was signed by hundreds of Assumption students, staff and faculty, will be placed on the building later in the week.