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August 27, 2008

New Life for 100-Year-Old Building

Union-PSCE will dedicate the newly renovated Early Center on Sept. 10

by Claire Mills
News and editorial services manager
Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education

RICHMOND, VA — The dedication of the Allen and Jeannette Early Center for Christian Education and Worship at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education (Union-PSCE) will be held during the school’s opening convocation on Sept. 10.

The newly renovated Allen and Jeannette Early Center for Christian Education and Worship at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education will be formally dedicated on Sept. 10.  Photo courtesy of Union-PSCE

The dedication will mark the beginning of Union-PSCE’s academic year and the culmination of a $10.7 million rehabilitation of the historic turreted brick building, one of the original buildings on campus which formerly served as the seminary’s library. Construction began in October 2006 and was completed in May 2008.

Classes will meet this fall in the newly renovated center, which was built in 1897 and has been transformed into a state-of-the-art academic and worship center with classrooms, faculty offices, and a chapel that have been retrofitted with the latest technology.

“The Early Center will enable the seminary to meet the changing technological needs of theological education in the 21st century,” said Union-PSCE President Brian Blount. “It will allow students, faculty, and staff to envision new ways of teaching, learning, and worshiping together.  All of us in the seminary community are excited to see just how transformative this edifice can be in our communal life,”

The design of the building’s interior was planned to meet current needs of providing theological education, with faculty offices located near the classrooms, which are fully equipped to use electronic resources and to promote distance education with local congregations and the Union-PSCE extension campus in Charlotte, N.C.

“The integrated technology and control systems have been installed this summer,” said John Wilson, director of technology services. “We have been busy getting the building online and tying all of the technology into the campus network. A big part of designing this building was having the ability to connect to the Charlotte campus and to congregations.”  

The Lake Chapel, a flexible worship space and lecture hall, will serve both for holding campus worship and for teaching students how to lead in worship. Large public events, such as lectures and presentations that are open to the community, will also be held in the space.