Editor’s note: The Penn State Board of Trustees voted to approve final plans for construction of the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building, as outlined below, during its meeting July 22 at Penn State York.
YORK, Pa. — Final plans for construction of the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building on the University Park campus were advanced today (July 21) by the Penn State Board of Trustees’ Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning. The project will go to the full board for consideration on July 22.
The full board of trustees previously approved naming the building to honor Susan Welch, who served as dean of the College of the Liberal Arts from 1991 until 2019. Welch passed away on March 28, 2022.
Upon its anticipated fall 2024 completion, the 143,000-square-foot building will bring several academic units in the College of the Liberal Arts — the School of Public Policy and the departments of Anthropology, Political Science, and Sociology and Criminology — and the School of International Affairs under one roof. General purpose classrooms and other state-of-the art learning spaces, along with the relocation of the Matson Museum of Anthropology, the Population Research Institute, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, the Criminal Justice Research Center, and a host of other labs, centers and institutes to the new facility will quickly help establish the Welch Building as an innovative hub of social science teaching, research and outreach activity in the heart of campus.
“Construction of the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building is a fundamental component in our efforts to provide a transformative liberal arts education that prepares students for all walks of life, and to recruit and retain the nation’s foremost liberal arts scholars who continue to address the most pertinent social, political and cultural issues facing us today,” said Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. “I am grateful to the Board of Trustees for this investment that elevates Penn State’s stature as one of the leading public liberal arts institutions in the nation.”
The Welch Building will be located between Ford and Mateer buildings and directly across Fischer Road from the Moore Building. The architects for the project, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Wilkes‐Barre, Pennsylvania, were able to create an innovative design that takes into account site constraints — such as zoning height restrictions, mature tree locations, connections to existing sidewalk networks and service needs — along with the desire for a cohesive design with adjacent buildings.
Total cost of the project is estimated to be $127.7 million, with most of the funding coming from borrowing, state funding and capital reserves. The project includes funding for the eventual demolition of Oswald Tower (where several of the units moving to the Welch Building are currently located), which currently carries a maintenance backlog of $14.9 million.
The College of the Liberal Arts plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building on Aug. 12.