LIBRARY RENOVATION The Mary and Robert J. Wright Learning and Information Center By Randal Whittington
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wenty-first century learning looks vastly different from the twentieth-century, postwar period when Austin Seminary’s Stitt Library was built—with its isolated metal study carrels and sparse electrical outlets. Therefore, plans to modernize Stitt Library became the final priority of the Weaving Promise and Practice into Ministry campaign. While maintaining the library’s essential Gothic-inspired beauty, plans include renovating the original 1950s building by modernizing it with updated technology and a media lab to enhance digital learning. Today, the forty-year-old addition has been razed, and construction has begun on an open and spacious wing that features adaptable study spaces and what will become the largest gathering spot on campus. When completed in 2021, The Mary and Robert J. Wright Learning and Information Center will be the academic hub of the Austin Seminary campus. Included in the renovation are long-overdue asbestos remediations; a new “Information Commons” with a ground-level entrance to communicate hospitality to patrons of all abilities; a system for humidity control that will extend the life span of books and historical collections; a new roof, ensuring that library resources are housed without risk to the collection; and upgraded wiring and added capacity that will greatly improve wi-fi access while providing adequate plugs for devices. All of these changes will enhance learning by providing more opportunities for collaborative work, improved spaces for archival material, better support for personal technology, and spaces for more targeted instruction, especially in the area of digital resources. Cassandra Carr, former Austin Seminary Board Chair and vice-chair of the campaign, made the lead gift for the project in 2012, and in 2018 Mary and Bob Wright along with Stacey and Mike Wright pledged $4 million toward the project. During 2019, aided by a 12-month,
$1 million challenge grant issued by the Mabee Foundation, President Ted Wardlaw and Vice President Donna Scott ramped up efforts to secure funds to complete the campaign. New and faithful donors stepped forward to offer support, including a $1 million gift from the Perot Family Foundation, a collective $1 million from the Frierson brothers of Shreveport, Louisiana, and a $2 million gift made to honor the memory of stalwart Presbyterian Helen Walton. And, in an outpouring of love and support by its graduates, alumni pledged more than $500,000 for the Digital Education Center, by far the largest sum ever raised by the alumni association. Once completed, the center will be dedicated in memory of James Lee (MDiv’00). “The Learning and Information Center was the component of the campaign that spoke to me,” said Cassandra Carr. “With it we are creating a place that will be a central hub of the whole campus where people will come together—faculty, students, people who are attending retreats, church practitioners—and be a community. I have come to believe that the way I can impact the world positively with what I have to contribute is by making sure we have wonderful ministers available in the church.” Austin Seminary takes seriously its mission to equip leaders for Christian service in the world. This project encompasses an environment to encourage creativity and inspire dialogue among diverse groups: faculty, visiting scholars and ministers, residential and commuter students, and the local and global community. The Wright Learning and Information Center is a touchstone of Austin Seminary’s expanding view of theological education expressed through this campaign, emerging from a tradition of training pastors, inspired by the potential of technology to connect the wider church, and responding with the flexibility to meet the changing needs of Christian leaders and learners. v
Randal Whittington is Austin Seminary’s director of communications and the editor of Windows. The photo was taken at the “groundbreaking” in February for the renovation of Stitt Library; pictured are Library Director Timothy Lincoln and ASA officers Sheila Sidberry-Thomas and Barrett Abernethy. Summer | Fall 2020 | 15
