Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
Library dedication set for October 28
Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation, will serve as guest speaker during an October 28 ceremony to rededicate the James B. Duke Library.
The 2 p.m. ceremony, to be held in the atrium of the library, will mark the official completion of the university's largest single construction project since the campus relocation more than 40 years ago.
All Furman faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend the rededication ceremony. President David Shi, Library Director Janis Bandelin and Trustee Mary Peace Sterling are also scheduled to make remarks.
Sterling provided the lead gift to fund the project. The Charlie Peace Wing, the 48,000-square-foot addition to the building, is named in honor of her father, who was a longtime executive with The Greenville News-Piedmont Co.
Gregorian, a native of Iran, served as the president of Brown University for nine years before joining the Carnegie Corporation, a grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. From 1981-89 Gregorian, who received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, served as president of the New York Public Library, an institution with a network of four research libraries and 83 circulating libraries.
While the columned library entrance remains relatively unchanged, the building's interior features a completely new, contemporary look. The rededication ceremony will be held in the circular atrium area, a centerpiece feature of the building.
A luncheon preceding the rededication will honor Furman alumni and faculty who have published a book, screenplay or music since 2000. Tommy Hays, a 1977 Furman graduate who has published two novels and has a third under contract with St. Martin's Press, will be the guest speaker at the luncheon.
Construction on the library began in the summer of 2002 shortly after the completion of Herman N. Hipp Hall. Because the library remained in use throughout the renovation, construction workers and library faculty and staff had to endure a regimented — and somewhat trying — construction timetable.
When the Charlie Peace Wing was completed in June 2003, movers and library personnel worked frantically during the summer to transfer offices and 400,000 volumes to the new wing as construction workers sectioned off the existing building for renovation.
Library staff and workers shuffled again this summer, relocating several offices and moving 250,000 volumes into the newly renovated space. With the entire library open, workers are currently putting the final touches on the building — installing equipment, moving books and cleaning up.
John Payne, associate director of the library, says completion of the project was delayed somewhat when a June lightning strike destroyed one of the library's two chimneys.
“The building is open but is not fully functional,” says Payne. “We hope to be fully functional by the end of this month.”