Departments seek common spaces to build community

Five years ago, Professor Fiona Somerset taught all her classes in the Allen Building, where her office is located. Now, to teach one of her English classes, she has to travel to Trent Drive Hall on Central Campus. "The rooms we had suited our needs, but we no longer have them," Somerset, an associate professor in the English department, wrote in an e-mail. "[English classrooms assignments are made] without regard for the inconvenience or even impossibility of travel time and without regard for the unsuitability of certain rooms to teach certain kinds of English classes." As Duke departments have expanded and divided, maintaining the tradition of having professors' classes in the same building as their offices has become more and more challenging, said Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. "[The University is] busting at the seams," he added. The English department, which is located in the Allen Building, now has to share the building with the Classical Studies department and the administrative offices of Trinity College and the Graduate School. This semester, of the 46 English classes taught, only 21 of them are held in the Allen Building, University Registrar Bruce Cunningham told Thompson. "Not having access to the classrooms near our offices damages a sense of community within the department and between professors and students," Somerset said. Currently, Duke faces a challenge in successfully allocating space to satisfy the needs of its academic departments, Thompson said. Following the institution of the foreign language requirement in Curriculum 2000, the number of students enrolling in language classes rose dramatically, he said. Thompson noted that these language classes, which are capped at 18 students, require small classroom spaces that Duke struggles to find. Overall, 72 percent of Duke classes have less than 20 people enrolled, which intensifies the challenge of assigning appropriate spaces to meet the needs of these classes, he said. "You want people in space that enables them to do their work," Thompson added. The University is currently working to alleviate the problem through the expansion of Central into a campus equal to the size of West and East campuses combined, he said, adding that Duke hopes to begin the project this summer. After the first phase of the Central expansion is completed, the University plans to first move the foreign languages, visual studies and international studies departments to the new campus, Thompson said. As departments move, the University will free up spaces that it can renovate for other departments, he added. "There has to be a movement, a domino effect," Thompson said. "The space needs to support the function, and [the demand for space] is a constantly moving mosaic." He added that Duke has an "unprecedented opportunity" to customize academic space to specifically meet the needs of classes, professors and students. On Central, the University will create "thematic clusters to promote dialogue across departments with common interest," Thompson said. He noted that in grouping these departments together, it will hopefully create the desired sense of community. "Mixing the purposes of a given space is a great way to create community," Somerset said. The completed Central will also include improved residential spaces, commercial services and recreational and educational facilities.