After nearly two decades of “temporary” housing, the English department marked its move into its official home in Tawes Hall during the grand opening ceremony yesterday.
Faculty moved into their offices over the summer after renovation work ended in May, and classes began meeting there this semester.
“After 19 years of wandering the wilderness of South Campus, finally [we’ve] arrived at the promised land,” said host and chairman of the English department Kent Cartwright.
About 60 people attended, including university President Dan Mote, and the event largely focused on the English department’s long wait for the building.
The department moved into Susquehanna Hall when it opened in 1991, while its old building, Taliaferro Hall, was being renovated. The once temporary move eventually turned permanent.
Later, as the number of students increased, the department outgrew Susquehanna and became even more fragmented: The writing center was in Taliaferro and offices and classes were housed in various buildings across the campus.
Meanwhile, Tawes was a fine arts building in disrepair after it was abandoned by the drama and music departments when the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center opened in 2001.
The state dedicated $36 million for renovations to the building in April 2007, and construction over the next two years demolished practice rooms and lockers in favor of offices and classrooms.
Timothy Connelly, a 1982 alumnus of the history department’s masters program, and his wife, Dale Connelly, who is currently an English student, said they were happily surprised by the changes in Tawes Hall. Dale Connelly said the English department felt scattered in recent years — some of her classes were in Susquehanna while others were far across campus.
Particular appreciation was shown to Mote for his dedication to the project since he came to office in 1998.
Mote talked of the many tours of the old building he had given to lawmakers to show them the need for funding and the trips he made to Annapolis to plead even more. The crowd broke into laughter after he apologized that the department had ended up waiting 19 years instead of the originally promised 18 months.
Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Charles Caramello, thanked the English department for their patience and talked of their willingness to compromise, which even included professors sharing offices due to lack of space over the years.
The atmosphere of the ceremony was jovial, especially during a poetry reading of “Ode on a Restored Tawes,” which Cartwright joked had been written by 19th century poet John Keats and recently found.
desmarattes@umdbk.com
