Contact Information
Melanie
McDonald
Director of
Media Relations
Phone
(574) 284-4579
Fax:
(574) 284-4848
Email:
mmcdonal@saintmarys.edu
Marketing
Communications
Department
Haggar College Center
Notre Dame, IN
46556-5001
DATE: May 4, 2007
MEDIA CONTACT: Melanie McDonald, director of media relations
PHONE: 574-284-4579
E-MAIL: mmcdonal@saintmarys.edu
Saint Mary's College Names New Academic Building
NOTRE DAME, Ind.--The Saint Mary's College Board of Trustees approved "Spes Unica Hall" as the name of the state-of-the-art academic building currently under construction on campus. Spes Unica means "our only hope" in Latin, and is the motto for Saint Mary's College as well as for the Holy Cross Congregations. The seals of the Holy Cross Sisters, Priests, and Brothers all include the cross, anchors, and the words "Spes Unica." The College seal also incorporates these elements.
"Naming our new building Spes Unica Hall is meaningful to our alumnae, students, faculty, staff, and the Sisters of the Holy Cross," says Saint Mary's College President Carol Ann Mooney. "Saint Mary's women are women of hope, women who realize that the work of transforming their world is not easy but that it is their responsibility to use their best efforts to do so. Within the walls of this new building, it is our dream that the work of learning will generate hope."
Spes Unica Hall will incorporate updated technology, more laboratory space, and environmentally sustainable practices and materials.
More than 600 donors--faculty, staff, alumnae, current and past parents, students, and friends of the College--funded the academic building, exceeding the $16.5 million goal to cover construction costs and an operating endowment.
"It is going to be a world-class academic facility," says Mooney. "It will bring updated technology into flexible classrooms that will accommodate a variety of teaching and learning styles; it will provide much needed laboratory space for the social scientists and it will include both formal and informal social space for faculty-student interaction. We have worked hard to make the building beautiful, efficient, and environmentally friendly."
Ballinger Architects, headquartered in Philadelphia, and Architecture Design Group of South Bend collaborated to design the 65,000 square foot facility.
Spes Unica Hall is part of the College's master plan, a renovation and construction effort designed to better serve students, faculty and staff. Saint Mary's has already completed construction of a new dining hall, student center, welcome center, apartment-style housing, and a clubhouse.
Saint Mary's College has six nationally accredited academic programs; a large number for a school of 1500 students. The accredited programs are: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing.