The Keene Faculty Center
The Dean's Musings
This article was originally printed in the October 1999 issue of CLASnotes.
Our faculty have long deserved a place of their own. Since last November, they have had just that in the form of the Keene Faculty Center, located in Dauer Hall. If you have not seen this facility and taken advantage of it, do yourself a favor and come by for a visit.
The Keene Faculty Center, arguably one of the most beautiful venues on campus, was designed to provide an attractive, inviting space for faculty to use in a variety of ways. First and foremost, it is a quiet get-away spot where faculty can retreat to read, converse with other faculty, or simply relax between classes. A Java Hut cart in the lobby serves specialty coffees, teas, and bagels. Packaged lunches are available for those who frequent the Center at mid-day, but you should also feel free to brown-bag it. Inside the Center, you will find the New York Times and Gainesville Sun available daily and the Chronicle of Higher Education weekly. The Ethan Allen chairs and couches are plentiful and comfortable. You can even plug in your laptop and access the internet. And if there are other things you would like to see in the Center (affordable by CLAS), let us know. We have a Faculty Advisory Group to provide input, but we welcome individual comments as well.
In addition to the large ground floor of the Keene Faculty Center, the facility features a spacious gallery overlooking the main hall. Here smaller meetings can be held, including lunches of up to about 15 people. A reconditioned baby grand piano is available in the gallery for recitals. Indeed, the acoustics of the Keene Faculty Center make it an attractive venue for chamber music performances.
Note that this is not a Faculty Club. There are no dues, nothing to join, no responsibilities. It was funded by private support by Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Keene, with state matching funds. By use of non-state monies, we were able to create a Faculty Center of unusual beauty and quality, in keeping with the Keenes' wishes. The room itself goes back to 1937, when it was built as part of the first UF Student Union, which eventually became the Arts and Sciences Building and later, Dauer Hall. In its earliest days, the Center was known as the University Banquet Hall, but archival photos show many types of events taking place there in the 1940s and 50s. Thus, a rich history precedes its reincarnation as the Keene Faculty Center.
In addition to individual use by faculty, the Keene Center finds extensive demand as a site for dinners, lunches, receptions, and various types of organization activities. Its popularity is growing rapidly. Associate Dean Joe Glover oversees the Center, schedules events, and makes appropriate decisions for its use. Please see him if you have questions or take a look at the Keene Faculty Center Web site <www.clas.ufl.edu/kfc> for more information.
Soon we will begin Phase II of the Center renovation process, which will add more hardwood floors in the upper lobby and extend this treatment down the Dauer hallway to connect with the McQuown Room, a site for smaller meetings and conferences. Future plans call for development of a landscaped courtyard to the north of the Keene Faculty Center.
The Center is sponsored and funded by CLAS, but we encourage participation by those from other colleges as well, so that it may serve as a central meeting site for faculty across UF. I hope you are already enjoying and taking advantage of the Keene Faculty Center, a rare and marvelous facility that recognizes and honors our faculty.
See you at the Keene.
Credits
Writer
Will Harrison, Dean
