A $46 million humanities building -- which officials say reaffirms Texas A&M's commitment to the arts and humanities -- will move forward, the university's interim president announced Tuesday.
Plans for such a building had been put on hold for the last couple of years -- a casualty of funding, officials said.
The four-story, 107,000-square-foot structure will rest at the campus' historic core, between the columned administration building and the Melbern G. Glasscock History Building. It will permanently house the English and performance studies departments.
Officials hope to break ground sometime during the beginning of the year.
"Looking across the campus, you'll find buildings labeled, dedicated to agriculture, engineering, business, physics -- and basketball," said Interim President R. Bowen Loftin. "But none ... dedicated solely to liberal arts."
It was unclear exactly why or when the project was delayed. Loftin became president in June following the resignation of Elsa Murano, who couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
"I wasn't here at the time in my current role and I don't know what the details are, but I do know it was on a priority list for funding back in 2007, and somehow the funding didn't materialize," Loftin said.
About $20 million will come from the Permanent University Fund, a public endowment that helps fund the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems. The remaining money will come from university and philanthropic sources, Loftin said.
The interim president said the decision was made within "the last couple weeks" to go forward with the building.
"We literally scraped together the funding required to make this building a reality," Loftin said, noting that savings also came from the A&M System's recent decision to refinance bonds for those with lower interest rates.
Officials said a humanities building shows that Texas A&M is committed to Vision 2020, the university's long-range plan of becoming one of the nation's best public universities.
Ray Bowen, who served as Texas A&M president until 2002 and was a co-chair of the committee that drafted the plan, said he and others studied what made the nation's great universities great.
"They tended to be strong in humanities -- they tended to be strong in everything they offered," Bowen said. About the announcement of the building, he said, "It's wonderful news. It's exactly what's needed to give our humanities programs the special boost they're worthy of."
Charles Johnson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, praised Loftin and Texas A&M System Chancellor Mike McKinney for finding money for the building.
Johnson will serve as senior associate vice president for research starting Sunday. His last day in the office as dean was Tuesday.
"It's a great last day," he said.
Robert Griffin, an associate professor of English literature, will be moving into the new building when it's complete. He said he was especially pleased because of the university's historical focus on engineering and agriculture.
The humanities -- language, history, literature, philosophy and others --help students understand the world and its history, Griffin said.
"A lot of people are beginning to understand that the world is not just a local place," he said.
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