Calloway School prepares for expansion
Wake Forest University will break ground on a new addition to Calloway Hall this fall that will allow the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy to exist in its own space for the first time. The new four-story wing will be named after the F.M. Kirby Foundation, which donated $5 million for the expansion. The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for Oct. 4. Construction is scheduled to begin in February.
The Calloway School, the largest undergraduate program at Wake Forest, currently shares space with the computer science and mathematics departments in Calloway Hall. Because of space constraints, each program has some classrooms and faculty offices in other campus buildings.
In the last eight years, student enrollment in the Calloway School has increased by 33 percent and the number of Calloway faculty has increased by 50 percent, making space increasingly tight. The new Kirby Wing will include enough classroom and office space for all of the Calloway School’s needs, room for group meetings and an entrepreneur center designed to foster business skills in students from all areas of study.
“Our school is growing and we needed to grow with it,” said Jack Wilkerson, dean of the Calloway School. “The addition will provide both the quantity and quality of space the school needs.”
The Calloway expansion will allow the computer science and mathematics departments to house all of their classrooms and faculty offices in the existing Calloway Hall. Classrooms throughout the building will be shared equally between the two departments, with the exception of two first-floor classrooms that will continue to be used by the Calloway School. Another first-floor classroom will be converted to a connecting entryway leading to the new addition.
The computer science department and faculty offices will be on the second floor. The mathematics department and faculty offices will be split between the third and first floors. The departments will also share a third-floor lounge. In addition, the university has reserved four offices in the building for faculty offices as needed.
A bridge will be built from the Reynolda Hall parking lot to the Kirby Wing’s new entrance. Like all buildings at Wake Forest, the addition will feature Old Virginia brick trimmed with limestone and granite.
To date, the university has received more than $9 million in gifts and pledges toward the $14 million needed to support the expansion. Those commitments are applied toward the university’s $450 million capital campaign, “The Campaign for Wake Forest University: Honoring the Promise.” The campaign had its public kickoff in the spring.
More than 400 students are currently enrolled in the Calloway school, which offers four-year degrees in business, analytical finance, mathematical business and information systems and a five-year degree program to earn a bachelor’s and master’s in accountancy. The Calloway School also offers a master’s degree in accountancy for students who have already earned an undergraduate degree.
