The Joseph Korbel School of International Studies will break ground next week on a new building immediately adjacent to Ben M. Cherrington Hall. These two buildings, in addition to Cherrington’s existing Sié Chéou-Kang Center annex, will comprise the new Anna and John J. Sié International Relations Complex. DU alumna and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is among those scheduled to speak at Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony.
Philanthropists Anna and John Sié’s $17 million donation toward this project served as the lead gift in Korbel’s ongoing $40 million campaign aiming to increase scholarships and expand programs, explained David Proper, director of communications for Korbel. The gift was also part of the university’s ASCEND campaign, which ended in June and raised nearly $490 million over eight years, including funding for Anderson Academic Commons.
The Siés are recipients of the Joseph Korbel Humanitarian Award for this year and will be honored at Korbel’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Dinner on Sept. 22. Their previous donation of $5.5 million helped to build the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy in honor of John Sié’s father. Sié is a former member of DU’s Board of Trustees.
“There’s a few undergraduate classes that are held [at Korbel], but many are also held in Sturm Hall,” said Proper.
He says this spread of classes is due to space limitations. The new building is scheduled for completion in winter of 2016 and will provide more space for Korbel’s classes and activities.
“We’ll be able to hold more of our undergraduate [classes] here and have it feel more like a community,” Proper explained, “where you don’t have to go to Anderson Academic Commons if you want a decent study space.”
Common areas in the new building will include a large forum on the first floor that students can use to gather, study and host events. A large space for major events will be located on the fifth floor. There will also be spaces for simulations such as the International Humanitarian Crisis Simulation, which is hosted each spring by Korbel’s graduate Humanitarian Assistance program and The Graduate School of Psychology’s International Disaster Psychology program. The building will also include more advanced AV equipment and technology than what is currently in Cherrington Hall, according to Proper.
The $23 million project also includes updates to current facilities in Cherrington Hall. Renovations are slated to start in 2017, after completion of the new building. Once finished, it is hoped the technology and equipment throughout the complex will better represent the professional environments students will enter upon graduation.
“One of [Dean Hill]’s major goals is to give students the opportunity to use the technologies that they’ll be using in their careers,” said Proper.
The new complex will also contain areas such as the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, grouping faculty members within the same field together so they can collaborate more easily, according to Proper.
The Arthur Gilbert Cyber Café has discontinued food services in anticipation of these changes. In addition, Proper advises that the west-facing entrance of Cherrington Hall will not be accessible while construction is underway. The western entrance on Gaylord and the southern entrance in the Sié Chéou-Kang Center annex will remain open.
The groundbreaking ceremony will be held on Sept. 23 at 8:00 a.m. on Cherrington Hall’s west lawn. In addition to Rice, speakers will include Korbel School Dean Christopher Hill and DU Chancellor Rebecca Chopp. Special guests John and Anna Sié and John Korbel are also expected to attend. Coffee and a light breakfast will be served. Anyone is welcome to attend, but space is limited, so RSVPs are recommended. A link to the RSVP form can be found at du.edu/korbel/about/events.
