Last modified: Thursday, October 11, 2007
Cornerstone ceremony marks start of new Hutton Honors College building
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 11, 2007
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An official cornerstone ceremony will mark the beginning of the construction process of the new Hutton Honors College on the Indiana University Bloomington campus.
IU President Michael A. McRobbie will preside over the ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 (Wednesday), in Dunn Meadow at the corner of Indiana Avenue and Seventh Street. Also on the program are remarks from Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Hanson and Jean C. Robinson, interim dean of the Hutton Honors College and professor of political science.
The special event will include the unveiling of a time capsule that will be placed in the cornerstone once construction begins. IU alumnus Edward L. Hutton, a prominent philanthropist and businessman from Cincinnati, Ohio, for whom the building was named, will unveil the cornerstone. A reception will follow immediately after the ceremony.
"We are extremely grateful to Mr. Hutton who has provided Indiana University students with so many extraordinary educational opportunities. He is a visionary, and his generosity will allow us to achieve our evolving goals for the Hutton Honors College," McRobbie said. "The new Hutton Honors College building will give this successful program the space and accommodations it has long deserved."
The ceremony is open to the public. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Indiana Memorial Union's Alumni Hall.
The approximately 450-pound cornerstone featured at the ceremony is symbolic since it won't be placed as a corner in the new Hutton Honors College. The stone is a portion of one of the columns that will be constructed outside the main entrance to the building. The time capsule -- containing a snapshot of today's Hutton Honors College and its students -- will be placed inside the column and sealed.
The IU Trustees approved construction of the new building in May 2006. Expected to cost $3.6 million, which will be funded by a gift from Hutton, construction of the new building will begin later this year on a site located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Seventh Street and Woodlawn Avenue. The building is scheduled to be completed in December 2008.
The building will provide 15,000 gross square feet on two floors. Its amenities include administrative offices, classrooms, collaborative work/study lounges, a library and adviser offices. The new building will also include a "Great Hall," with associated areas for receptions and special events.
The building's collegiate gothic exterior will be a combination of smooth, carved ornamental and rubble limestone, said Assistant Vice President and University Architect Robert Meadows. Fieldstone walls will enclose the brick walks of an English garden and the covered porch of the entry. A gray Vermont slate roof will match the roof of the adjacent Indiana Memorial Union. The new building and grounds will embrace the prevalent style of the historic campus.
"This beautiful building will be a wonderful addition to this part of the campus, and it will enhance all the functions of the Hutton Honors College -- teaching, advising, service, extracurricular activities, student and faculty collaborations," Hanson said. "Both programmatically and aesthetically, the building is a gem. We are very grateful for Mr. Hutton's generosity and vision. He has shaped and endowed the Honor's centerpiece program -- the Edward L. Hutton International Experiences Program -- and now he has made this new building possible. Our marvelous students, along with the campus and the larger community, will benefit enormously, and we are all grateful."
The building's architect is WDI Architecture Inc. in association with BSA Lifestructures -- both based in Indianapolis. A construction company has not yet been selected.
In the fall of 2004, IU Bloomington named its Honors College for Edward L. Hutton, who grew up in Bedford, Ind., during the Great Depression. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from IU, and then served in the U.S. Army in Germany. After the war, he worked in the occupational government's Export/Import Division, negotiating trade agreements to help rebuild the German economy.
After his Army service, Hutton moved to New York, continuing to work in international trade. In 1951, he joined W.R. Grace & Co., where he became a senior officer and director. Returning to the Midwest in the 1970s, Hutton eventually became chairman of Chemed Corp. and chairman of Omnicare Inc.
The beneficiary of an IU scholarship and of mentoring from caring faculty members, Hutton has been extraordinarily generous in funding student scholarships and endowed faculty professorships at IU. He also chaired the IU Foundation's volunteer committee that raised funds for the Herman B Wells Scholars Program in the 1980s. Hutton received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from IU in 1992 and the IU Foundation's Herman B Wells Visionary award in 2002.
In 2003, Hutton gave $9 million to IU to establish an endowment for the International Experiences Program. IU subsequently named the program for him. The university is matching the interest income from his gift in accordance with an initiative that provides matching funds for new gifts of scholarships and fellowships for the IU Bloomington campus. In 2005-06, Hutton provided funds to build a new home for the Hutton Honors College.
"Thanks to Edward Hutton, I am looking forward to the day when the Hutton Honors College will be able to offer two things we have long needed: a dedicated space for Honors seminars -- something we absolutely require as our curriculum grows -- and a spacious and well-outfitted gathering place for the many lectures, workshops and student activities we sponsor," Robinson said. "It will be great that students no longer will be crammed into a tiny, awkward space that forces us to beg for seminar space elsewhere or to strictly limit attendance at our special events with Nobel Prize laureates, film directors, novelists and scientists."
The Hutton International Experiences Program was started in 2000 as a pilot project of the Honors College. The program assists with costs for travel and living expenses for IU Bloomington students to study abroad or get involved in service projects and internships outside the United States. It is a year-round program. Since its inception, nearly 2,000 students have benefited from the program. IU plans to enable 600 students annually to incorporate international experiences into their academic programs. More than $2.6 million has been awarded in the past eight years to assist students in pursuing educational endeavors abroad.
For general information about the construction, please contact Robert Meadows or David Walters, production architect, at 812-855-3525. For additional information about the ceremony, contact Nicole Roales at 812-856-3717 or nroales@indiana.edu.
About the Hutton Honors College
The Hutton Honors College recruits a diverse body of talented and highly motivated students, whose presence on campus serves to enhance the education of all undergraduates. By providing a range of small, challenging courses along with a variety of extracurricular and service programs, the Hutton Honors College strives to ensure an enriched academic and social experience for honors students and to create an environment that fosters active, innovative learning. These opportunities, which include close working relationship with some of IU's top faculty, affirm the university's commitment to providing for students both the intimacy of a small college and the breadth and depth of a large, pluralistic, distinguished research institution.
