Alumni CLASnotes Spring 2002

Anderson Hall Rededicated

The Anderson Family

The rededication of Anderson Hall was held on April 5, with UF President Charles Young presiding. The Anderson family unveiled a portrait of James Nesbitt Anderson, the first Dean of Arts and Sciences at UF, which will hang in the newly renovated building. Following a determined campaign to restore historic campus buildings, a generous gift from Kenneth and Janet Keene in 1997 together with state funding allowed the university to restore both Anderson and Flint Halls. These buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Anderson Hall opened in 1913 as Language Hall and was home to the humanities departments. It also served as the main UF administration building until Tigert Hall was completed in 1950. The building's name was changed to Anderson Hall in 1949 to honor James Nesbitt Anderson, who was also a Professor of Greek and Latin and the first Dean of the Graduate School at UF.

The building is home to many significant moments in UF's history. In 1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling, taught a creative writing course on the second floor of Language Hall. The Independent Florida Alligator had its first editorial office in the basement, and Florida Blue Key was also organized here.

Today, Anderson Hall houses the administrative and faculty offices of the Departments of Religion and Political Science. Eight general-purpose classrooms in the renovated building are utilized daily by more than 3,000 students studying the humanities, the social and behavioral sciences, business and education.