Faculty and staff are moving into offices in the William Henry Belk Pavilion and the Luvene Holmes and Royall H. Spence, Jr. Pavilion in the Academic Village. Both pavilions will host classes for the first time this fall. Details...
The Belk Pavilion houses Elon’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, the General Studies program, the office of sponsored programs and the Writing Across the Curriculum program. The Spence Pavilion is the new home for Elon’s philosophy and religious studies departments.
The Belk Pavilion includes faculty offices, a seminar room and three classrooms that have flexible space, allowing faculty to experiment with different setup options depending on the lesson or curriculum they plan to teach. The pavilion will have the latest in technology and video equipment so faculty members can observe and evaluate their performance in the classroom.
“We believe this will be a great place for faculty to share ideas and use the resources that are available,” said Peter Felten, director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. “The upstairs classrooms are creative spaces where faculty can try various approaches to see what works and what doesn’t.”
A gift by The Belk Foundation of Charlotte named the Belk Pavilion in honor of the founder of the Belk department store organization. William Henry Belk founded the organization in 1888 and his son, John Belk, retired as chairman and CEO of Belk, Inc., in 2004 after a 59-year career with the company.
Move-in started Tuesday, May 29 for faculty in the new Luvene Holmes and Royall H. Spence, Jr. Pavilion. Located adjacent to the Belk Pavilion on the east side of the Academic Village, the Spence Pavilion houses the philosophy department on the first floor and religious studies faculty on the second floor. In addition to faculty offices, the Spence Pavilion offers a seminar room downstairs and two upstairs classrooms.
Trustee Emeritus Royall Spence, Jr. ’42 made a naming gift for the pavilion. He and his wife, the late Luvene Holmes Spence ’43, have served the university in a variety of ways. Royall Spence served 22 years on the board of trustees, was vice chair from 1974 to 1989, and served as board chair from 1989 to 1991. The Spences donated more than 47,000 volumes to the former McEwen LIbrary in honor of his father, Royall Spence, Sr. Recipient of the 1977 Alumnus of the Year award, Royall Spence, Jr., also created a substantial endowment for the library and made a naming gift for Colclough residence hall in honor of his mentor and friend, George Colclough.
The Belk and Spence pavilions are the fourth and fifth pavilions in the Academic Village, which provides a center for liberal arts programs on campus. The pavilions surround a central lawn and outdoor amphitheater. The Academic Village includes office areas for liberal arts departments and innovative classroom, lab and seminar spaces, as well as residential communities in which groups of students live with a faculty mentor.