Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community,
As we approach the much-anticipated occupancy of the new Tepper Quadrangle this summer and the exciting official grand opening this fall, I am writing to inform you of several related campus moves that will take place once the Tepper School relocates to its new home.
After comprehensive discussions and planning involving senior leadership and deans, several academic units from the College of Fine Arts and Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, in whole or in part, will be moving into the GSIA/Posner Hall spaces left vacant by the business school. The moves provide for some of the much-needed space to accommodate and consolidate the ongoing growth in Dietrich and to begin to alleviate the serious space deficits in CFA. In addition to addressing space challenges in the College of Fine Arts, the facilities in GSIA/Posner make it possible to relocate a portion of the Music program from Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall to GSIA. This will allow expansion of studio and research facilities for the School of Design.
After necessary modifications are made, the GSIA/Posner building will house the:
- School of Art’s Master of Fine Arts program;
- School of Music, which will maintain some space in CFA;
- BXA Intercollege Degree programs;
- Institute for Politics and Strategy;
- Modern Languages Department;
- English Department (in part);
- Humanities Center;
- Center for the Arts in Society;
- Humanities Scholar Program; and
- one-stop Student Academic Success Center that will bring together existing and expanding resources, including Academic Development programs, Disability Resources, the Global Communication Center, Graduate Student programs, the Intercultural Communications Center as well as other student support and persistence initiatives.
The above moves will allow Dietrich to consolidate units to Baker Hall from Doherty and Wean halls, and from Winthrop Street. In addition, this provides opportunities to address other space needs from units across the university and gain access to larger classrooms to improve scheduling and implementation of co-curricular programs.
Also of great importance are 11 classrooms — nine from the business school in Posner Hall and two from Dietrich in Wean Hall — that will be added to the Registrar’s list of university classrooms. As our multi-year, $20 million classroom renovation project continues, these additional classrooms will be a great benefit as teaching spaces are taken offline for construction. To date, 19 classrooms in Porter Hall were renovated over winter break and 23 more are scheduled to be restored this summer.
In addition to the above moves, GSIA/Posner will provide temporary office space for Warner Hall staff this summer and fall when infrastructure and occupancy code upgrades will be made to extend the life of the building. Minimal renovations to the first floor and floors 3 through 6 in Warner Hall will include the addition of ADA-compliant restrooms. Warner Hall staff are scheduled to move to GSIA/Posner this summer and return to Warner when renovations are complete.
I would like to thank the many people who have been involved in this complex planning process and who will continue to play vital roles moving forward. I particularly acknowledge the work and expertise of Ralph Horgan, Bob Reppe and the staff of Campus Design and Facility Development.
Our campus is undergoing unprecedented change that will benefit the entire university community. It’s an exciting time to be at Carnegie Mellon!
Regards,
Laurie R. Weingart
Interim Provost
Richard M. and Margaret S. Cyert Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory