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

  • Illinois District Boosts Security at High-School Stadium

    Richmond-Burton Community High School in Richmond, Ill., recently announced that it has completed the redesigned entrance to its high school stadium with a new focus on school security and community engagement, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects and Engineers on the project as part of District #157’s year-long facilities master plan.

  • Pitzer College

    Designing for Change in Higher Ed Learning Environments

    Higher education will continue to evolve, and learning environments must evolve with it. By prioritizing adaptable infrastructure, thoughtful reuse, strong energy performance, and wellness-centered design, campuses can create spaces that support learning today while remaining flexible for the future.

  • From Approval to Opening: Inside Travis Unified School District’s Fast Tracked Campus Expansion

    The Travis Unified School District (TUSD) in northern California includes several elementary and high schools serving over 5,400 students. In 2024, the TUSD Board approved the addition of sixth grade to the Golden West Middle School campus for the 2025–26 school year, setting in motion an accelerated effort to bring new facilities online in less than a year.

  • NWEA Report Recommends K–12 Natural Disaster Recovery Strategies

    The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a K–12 assessment and research organization, recently announced the release of a new playbook for schools and communities recovering from extreme weather events, according to a news release.