Learning Resources

Abstract: American higher education institutions have a long, complex history with slavery that shouldn’t be ignored. Reckoning with these historical ties—from slave-owning namesakes to the enslaved laborers who constructed campus buildings—generates difficult questions for colleges and universities:

• How do we honor those who were enslaved?
• How do we recognize our role in the history of slavery as a means of learning from the past to guide our future?

In this symposium, four institutions will share their approaches to these complicated questions and how they’re continuing the conversation around the legacy of slavery on their campuses.

Abstract: Over the past several years Temple University’s Main Campus has undergone an impressive physical transformation, the result of completed multiple projects from two facilities master plans and a landscape master plan. The campus has redefined its identity from an assemblage of bland modernist-era buildings to a dynamic environment with signature contemporary architecture, an active and unifying landscape, and a preserved historic architectural core. This campus tour will explore how Temple University has improved the student and visitor experience through facility upgrades and the use of ’found’ outdoor and interstitial spaces to expand its footprint.

Abstract: Temple University’s new Charles Library is the social and academic heart for a large and diverse student body. Within a vibrant urban context the project reinterprets the traditional research library typology as a dynamic learning hub. Our tour guides will walk you through this international award-winning facility to share the thought process behind the design, project challenges and solutions, and provide an update on how the library has performed since its opening in Fall 2019.