Our New Home

Currently, the Liberal Arts Honors program resides in the oldest building on the Forty Acres. LAH will soon move to the new College of Liberal Arts Building. While the students and staff will be sad to leave the beautiful old charm of Gebauer, Liberal Arts Honors will have a larger, more modern space. Careful attention was paid to give our students state of the art facilities, and the extra resources offered to the growing program allow LAH to maintain the close-knit environment essential to its vision.

Because of the spread-out nature of the various departments in the College of Liberal Arts, when the new building was in the planning stages, space in the new central home of the college was competed for tenaciously. Dean Diehl assured Dr. Larry Carver, director of the Liberal Arts Honors Program, that both the premiere honors programs in the college would have pride of place next to each other in the new building. Showcasing the honors programs illustrates the college’s commitment to their work. The program’s new home is a symbol of Liberal Arts Honor’s value to both the College of Liberal Arts and its students.

While the acknowledgement of LAH’s importance in the College of Liberal Arts is vital, the tangible improvements the new space will make in the lives of its students cannot be ignored. While the current space in Gebauer offers students a place to gather and work, the new building will offer the students double the number of computers in the new computer lab and a commons room that is both larger than the space in the Gebauer building and completely dedicated to student use. LAH’s student organizations will be able to use the space for meetings and events. Even outside the office, the new building will allow for LAHers to take honors courses from many disciplines, all under one roof. The light and airy environment will offer students a home in the new heart of campus, mere steps away from the Student Activities Center, Gregory Gym, and Waller Creek.

The building’s importance to LAH is just one small part of what it represents to the college as a whole. Being the largest college on campus, the departments of the college are spread all across the Forty Acres. Having one place that gathers many of the previously spread out academic units will create a stronger sense of college unity. Bringing departments together brings their students together, giving them a place all their own. LAHers have this sense of community in Gebauer, but a larger space will help that connection grow. LAH is happy to call the new building our new home.