Today, the College of the Liberal Arts hosted the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Moore Building, home of the Department of Psychology.
President Spanier spoke about the history of psychology at Penn State. He explains that “psychology has deep roots at Penn State, starting in 1871 when the course, Mental Science, was first offered.” Courses in experimental and education psychology were developed next, until the Department of Education and Psychology was eventually founded. Psychology ultimately became its own separate department in 1945.
In 1972, the Moore Building was officially named after Dr. Bruce Moore, Psychology Professor and Department Chair. Professor of Psychology, Robert Stern, attended both today’s ceremony and the first groundbreaking ceremony in 1968, when the initial construction of the Moore Building began. Stern reflects on the difference between the two ceremonies. He states that “the university did not plan any groundbreaking for Moore” the first time around. Instead, he and a few colleagues made a sign dedicating the “Psychology and Education Building 3” as it was then to be called. They spray painted a shovel silver, and called the Collegian to capture the “official” ceremony in 1968 (top right photo).
The ceremony today marks nearly a decade of planning and fund-raising which will, according to Dean Welch, help to add “an additional 57,000 square feet of space for interdisciplinary learning, research, and service and will provide state-of-the-art laboratories for research in areas ranging from neuroscience to language development to intercultural communication.”
This much needed space will help to improve the experience of psychology students, including 900 undergraduate majors and 500 minors, hundreds of world campus students, and numerous graduate students. The new addition will also house a variety of centers and clinics, including the Psychological Clinic and the Child Study Center.
The connection between today’s official ceremony and that first impromptu groundbreaking in 1968 was reaffirmed when Bob Stern joined Dean Welch to break new ground for the Moore building.
This time, he didn’t need to spray paint the shovels silver, as they were already painted gold.
The slide show below captures today’s ceremonial groundbreaking event: