BUILDING UPDATES
Opening doors to Europe: College dedicates Winston House in LondonCapital projects remain on schedule and on budget
Opening doors to Europe: College dedicates Winston House in London
Cutting the ribbon to dedicate Winston House, from left: Peter T. Grauer, Peter G.C. Mallinson, James H. "Jim" Winston, Madeline G. Levine, Bernadette Gray-Little, Charles M. Winston Sr., Robert W. Winston III and James L. "Jim" Leloudis.
Editor’s note: The following piece is based on
an article that first appeared on the College of Arts and
Sciences website.
The size of Tar Heel country just got larger with the
dedication of Winston House in London, home of the College
of Arts and Sciences’ European Study Center.
The 18th century townhouse, located on Bedford Square in
the heart of historic Bloomsbury, was celebrated in a
ceremony on May 21 attended by more than 100 Carolina
alumni and representatives of academic institutions in
London. Bedford Square is the oldest remaining complete
Georgian garden square in the city.
The dedication of Winston House officially opens the
facility to the entire University, including faculty,
alumni and students from all parts of campus.
“The purchase of this special property on Bedford
Square is unprecedented in Carolina history,” said
UNC provost Bernadette Gray-Little at the dedication.
“It is the first building that the University has
acquired abroad for academic programs, and it is the first
property that the College of Arts and Sciences has owned
anywhere beyond Chapel Hill.”
“Our family has been nourished, educated and enriched by Carolina for many years,” said James H. Winston. “It is my firm belief that if those who have gone before us were here today, they would be pleased and proud of their university for this big step forward in providing this facility where students can learn and be a part of the now global world we live in.”
Winston House is named for the Winston family in recognition of the generous gift of James H. Winston ’55 and his wife Mary, and in honor of the Winston family’s longstanding ties to Carolina and to Europe. Beginning with Patrick Henry Winston in 1844, six generations of the family have been Carolina students and leaders. The European Study Center reflects the College’s commitment to internationalization and will serve as a hub linking Carolina to partners across Europe and beyond. Winston House offers opportunities for faculty collaborations, study abroad programs, research initiatives, academic conferences and meetings, alumni enrichment activities, and a wide variety of London-based programs.
“Our family has been nourished, educated and enriched by Carolina for many years,” said James H. Winston. “It is my firm belief that if those who have gone before us were here today, they would be pleased and proud of their university for this big step forward in providing this facility where students can learn and be a part of the now global world we live in.”
Winston House is located convenient to the British Museum and Library and to King’s College London, where UNC recently launched a multi-level exchange program for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.
“Now, more than ever, it is crucial for our students to be prepared to lead in a global, knowledge-based society,” said Madeline G. Levine, (then) interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Winston House is already serving as a catalyst for a growing list of international educational initiatives that address our academic mission.… It plays a vital role in connecting Carolina with the world, and bringing the world home to Carolina.”
The 4,400-square-foot facility combines the best of 18th century décor and 21st century technology. State-of-the-art instructional technologies enable users to coordinate classes in London with those in other European locations as well as with courses taught in Chapel Hill or at other universities in the UNC system.
Winston House includes five classrooms, two faculty offices, a library/administrative office, a library, a patio garden and a faculty apartment.
More than 30 donors contributed a total of $5 million to enable the College to purchase the facility. In addition to the gift of James and Mary Winston, lead gifts were made by Peter T. and Laura Grauer, the estate of James M. Alexander, W. Lee Hemphill and Elsbeth Lindner, the Peter and Elisabetta Mallinson Trust, and Chad and Blake Pike.
The facility is being managed by the Honors Program and the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence.
University administrators, faculty, students and alumni interested in utilizing Winston House for a class, meeting or other special event, should contact Randi Davenport, executive director of the Johnston Center, at (919) 843-7765, rdavenpo@email.unc.edu.
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Capital projects remain on schedule and on budget
Beard Hall at the School of Pharmacy
Editor’s note: The following piece first
appeared in the Aug. 15, 2007, issue of the University
Gazette, Carolina’s faculty/staff newspaper.
It is by no means over yet, but if the University’s
long-running capital program were a football game, it would
now be somewhere in the fourth quarter and the scoreboard
would read the same as when it first began: on schedule and
on budget.
And that is no small victory.
Last month (July), in his latest six-month report on the
status of capital improvement projects, Bruce Runberg,
associate vice chancellor for facilities planning and
construction, ran through the list of completed projects
since January.
They include the $14.4 million Brauer Hall renovation; the
$34.1 million FedEx Global Education Center; the $34.48
million Information Technology Services (ITS) Manning
Building; the $11.7 million renovation of the Daniels
Student Stores; and the $6.87 million renovation of the
Campus Y.
Another major project that was completed by the end of July
is the Student and Academic Services Building that with the
beginning of the fall semester will put an array of vital
student services in one central location. Work on the $29.2
million project began in June 2005, and departments began
moving into the new facility in June.
The second phase of the Manning Steam Plant and Utility
Distribution Tunnel (a $29.8 million project) was completed
in July.
The $8.9 million renovation of Beard Hall and the $28
million renovation of Morrison Residence Hall will also be
completed by the end of summer.
Two other major projects under construction include Phase
II of the Carolina Physical Science Complex and the Genetic
Medicine Building. Construction on the $34.3 million
science complex project began in May 2006 and is scheduled
for completion in May 2008. Work on the $122 million
medical building began in December 2005 and it is scheduled
for completion this December.
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