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Athletics: AU-Georgetown 25 years later

From left: SIS associate dean Leeanne Dunsmore; Professor Emeritus Millidge Walker; SIS alumna of the year Sherry Mueller, SIS/BA ’65; Bishop John Schol; Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii); AU President Neil Kerwin; SIS dean Louis Goodman; graduate student Blair Mersinger, SIS/BA ’06; and Professor Paul Wapner

Fifty years ago on the AU quad, President Dwight D. Eisenhower thrust a shovel into the dirt and announced, “the waging of peace demands the best we have.” With those words, the School of International Service was born.

Fast forward to 2007. Once again, there is a shovel. Once again, it’s in the hands of a decorated veteran of World War II: Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. And once again, there is an ambitious vision.

Ground was broken on November 14 for a new building whose pioneering “green” design will embody the values of AU and SIS.

The 70,000 square foot building will be “the most functional, most beautiful, most environmentally friendly home in the world for a school of international affairs,” SIS dean Louis Goodman told the standing-room crowd that spilled out of the white tent at the corner of the quad by Bender Library where the building will rise.

The school is halfway through its fund-raising goal of $20 million for a building that will make a forward-looking statement in everything from its inviting physical appearance to the smallest details of its construction materials.

Plans call for more than 7,000 square feet of solar panels. The building will collect and store rain water for building use and irrigation, and use recycled materials produced in a socially and environmentally just manner. Its many crystalline windows will open to admit fresh breezes into the classrooms, fill offices and gathering spaces with natural light, and serve as a constant reminder of the importance of transparency.

Designed by William McDonough, a pioneering architect of “green” design, it will be LEED Gold certified, the benchmark for environmental design. The building’s sustainable design will be “setting a powerful example for all of us,” Inouye said. “You have demonstrated dramatically that the time for talking is over.”

The landmark building will also fill a practical need. Professor Emeritus Millidge Walker recalled that when he started teaching at SIS, its initial 12 faculty members “were rather spaciously accommodated.” But it became the largest school of international service in the country and has long outgrown its Eisenhower-era building.

The old SIS building will not be torn down; in keeping with AU’s environmental commitment, it will be renovated for other uses. But all SIS faculty and students will be accommodated in the school’s new airy and inviting home, which will occupy the last spot on the quad, in what is now a parking lot by Bender Library.

“For more than 50 years, AU’s School of International Service has been educating young men and women for international service—a distinctive trait of this school and our entire university,” said AU President Neil Kerwin. “With a new green home for our scholars, students, and academic programs, we rededicate ourselves to this mission.”

The building is projected to open in 2010.