October 16, 2003

Addition of Crowe Hall a boost to humanities

By Katharine Duke

After a busy summer of moving offices, humanities faculty who were slated to move are now settling into their new offices in Crowe and Kresge Centennial halls.

The addition of Crowe Hall to Kresge Hall has created a courtyard between the two buildings. The first floor also houses a new cafe.

photo by Mary Hanlon

In July, the University finished construction on Crowe Hall, a four-story building connected to Kresge Hall. The new addition created about 125 additional offices and now houses parts of the Spanish and Portuguese, French and Italian, German, Slavic, philosophy and religion departments, among others.

The University began considering an addition to Kresge Hall several years ago when the humanities departments in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences needed more office space. After examining several options, the University decided to build a new four-story building that would span across the existing southeast and southwest wings of Kresge Hall, creating an interior courtyard, said Marvin Lofquist, associate dean of Weinberg and a member of the committee who worked with the architects to create Crowe.

“The move has gone better than I even expected,” said Lofquist. “We had to move people into Crowe Hall to vacate other spaces so we could fix them up and move other people into those spaces. For the most part it’s gone smoothly.”

With the addition came a new numbering system for the floors in Kresge Hall. In the past, Kresge has had ground, first, second and third floors. Now, to correspond with Crowe Hall, the ground floor of Kresge has become the first floor, the first floor has become the second floor and so on.

Most of the faculty from the Spanish and Portuguese department moved from the existing second and third floors of Kresge to the first and second floors, with some offices in the existing building and some in the new building.

The faculty from the French and Italian departments remained on the second floor with some offices in the new building and some in existing Kresge, while the faculty from the German lanaguage and literature department stayed in most of the offices they have in the existing Kresge and gained a few in Crowe Hall.

The faculty in the African-American Studies Department moved to offices on the third floor of Crowe while the department office moved to the second floor. The Writing Program now occupies offices on the second floor of Crowe and Kresge. The Center for International and Comparative Studies will move into the house (1902 Sheridan) vacated by the Writing Program.

The faculty from the philosophy department moved from the department’s two houses on Hinman Avenue to the third floor of Crowe and Kresge Hall, and the department office moved to the second floor of Kresge. Several faculty members from the anthropology department will move into 1812 Hinman, and the School of Music’s Office of Keyboard Maintenance and Music Academy have taken space in 1818 Hinman.

The art history department and art theory and practice department retained many of their current offices on the third floor of Kresge and have expanded into the new building. The art theory and practice department has also added a new studio on the third floor of Kresge, and a darkroom will be completed later this year.

The faculty from the religion department have vacated their house, 1940 Sheridan Road, and moved to offices on the fourth floor of the new building. Meanwhile, the Academic Advising Center and the Fellowship Office will move out of 1936 Sheridan and into 1940 Sheridan. The Multicultural Center will remain in 1936 Sheridan and take over the space vacated by the Academic Advising Center and the Fellowship Office.

The faculty from the Jewish studies program and the Slavic languages and literatures department also have offices on the fourth floor of Crowe Hall. Additionally, extensive remodeling has been completed on the fourth floor of Kresge to accommodate the new location of the Program of African and Asian Languages.

In addition to the new offices, the two buildings now have a coffee house on the first floor with doors opening to the enclosed courtyard.

According to Lofquist, the faculty in Crowe Hall are pleased with the appearance of the building. “In general, people have been very complimentary and have liked the look and feel of the new building,” Lofquist said.