Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

FAU Breaks Ground on Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building

  • By Matt Jones
  • 11/09/23

Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., recently broke ground on a new facility for the College of Arts and Letters, according to local news. Construction on the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building will begin in early 2024 and is scheduled for completion in February 2025. The building was included as a university priority in the 2021 Boca Raton Campus Master Plan.

The university partnered with Synalovski Romanik Saye, LLC, for the building’s design and Gilbane Building Company for construction. The building will stand two stories and cover about 23,557 square feet. The building will have a capacity of about 380 stations, including academic and administrative areas. It will feature basic academic amenities like a 150-seat lecture hall, classrooms, conference room, computer lab, recording studio, and faculty offices, according to Michael Horswell, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters.

 It will also feature “a Holocaust and human rights professional development training room, a traveling exhibition room, a student multimedia studio and a student study room. The lobby will also have a digital Wall of Recognition and Remembrance meant to ‘acknowledge the support of benefactors and to educate against hate, antisemitism and indifference,’ said Horswell,” according to FAU student publication University Press.

The building will play home to classes in subjects like human rights, justice, peace, Holocaust education, women’s studies, and more. The university website reports that it will also serve as a hub for human rights education and leadership training.

“Liberal arts education helps you to answer difficult questions,” said Alan Berger, Raddock Family eminent Scholar Chair of Holocaust Studies and Judaic Studies professor. “Jewish studies gives us more insight into the human. [The goal is for] the world of the future to be better than the world of the past.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • South Carolina District Starts Construction on $50M Middle School Renovation

    The Aiken County Public School District in North Augusta, S.C., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $50-million renovation and expansion of North Augusta Middle School, according to a news release. The project’s funding comes from the 2024 renewal of a one-cent sales tax approved by local voters.