A presentation on the Nasher Museum of Art highlighted the first Academic Council meeting of the school year Thursday.
Kimerly Rorschach, director of the museum and adjunct professor of art history, showed pictures of the museum's construction and detailed the events leading up to its Oct. 2 opening.
"We are about one week away from our pre-opening events," Rorschach said. "We are sort of in a crisis mode."
The new facility, which is located on Central Campus at the corner of Duke University and Anderson roads, is designed to attract both the campus and local communities.
"We are very visible to the broader public... for town as well as gown," Rorschach said, noting that although the museum will not be the biggest in the area, it will be a major addition to the local arts scene.
The Duke University Museum of Art- the University's first art museum-was established in 1969 on East Campus to house a collection of medieval sculptures.
Rorschach said the old museum was a "modest start," adding that the building did not have climate control or a loading dock-a necessary feature to transport pieces of art larger than a door frame.
"The beginnings were critical," she said. "Everything we have now are built on those foundations."
The new Nasher facility has five pavilions, about 15,000 square feet of exhibition space and a loading dock.
"Museum directors get very excited over loading docks," Rorschach said. "And we have a good one now."
The findings of the Joint Degree Task Force were also approved unanimously by the council. The group advocated that Duke be willing to partner in joint degree programs with universities throughout the world. The committee's recommendation stems from the idea that a student in a joint-degree program should be viewed as earning a Duke degree, not one of a different standard.
Halfway through the meeting, the council was joined by the Faculty Scholar Award Committee, which named three Faculty Scholars for 2005-2006. New scholars Elizabeth Kirby, Rahul Satija and Stephanie Weber, all seniors, were congratulated by the council during their brief visit.
The Faculty Scholar Award recognizes outstanding seniors in an academic setting. Each winner was nominated by a department or program from either the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. The nominations were based on a student's grade point average, independent work, potential for innovative scholarship and "an avowed intention to pursue a scholarly career in an academic setting," according to the committee's report.
"They really represent the best the Trinity School and the Pratt School of Engineering have to offer," said Benjamin Ward, associate dean for Student Development, associate professor of philosophy and chair of the Faculty Scholar Award Committee.
In other business:
The council approved a name change for the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. It will now be called the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies.
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