See Inside: CBU's $11 million Rosa Deal School of Arts

Michelle Corbet   
Reporter, Memphis Business Journal

Christian Brothers University's first building has been razed and replaced with a new $11 million school for liberal and visual arts.

Opening its doors Monday, Jan. 23 in a grand opening event from 4:30-6:30 p.m., the new Rosa Deal School of Arts is three stories and 45,000 square feet of classroom, studio and lab space for liberal and visual arts students.

The project was made possible by a $5.4 million estate gift from Dr. Rosa Deal, CBU’s first female faculty member. Funding was also provided through the $70 million "Faith in Progress" capital campaign.

The new building stands on the site of Kenrick Hall, the first academic building constructed on CBU's campus, in the 1930s. CBU initially hoped to renovate the historic building into the new arts school, but it would have cost $3 million to $4 million more than new construction.

Wanting to preserve as much of the history as possible, ANF Architects designed the exterior facing East Parkway after Kenrick Hall with brick and mortar to match the neighboring administration building.

"When you flip around to the other side, it shows a modern building that reflects our modern campus," said Paul Haught, vice president for academics and student life. "This is a building that's designed for 21st century education in the liberal and visual arts."

The state-of-the-art facility houses multimodal classrooms, art studios, a new writing center and language lab, psychology lab and communal spaces for students.

Christian Brothers University's Rosa Deal School of Arts
Architect : ANF Architects
General contractor: Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc