Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

$1 million gift to Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies makes Sims Hall renovations a reality

Monday, November 26, 2012, By Erica Blust
Share
College of Visual and Performing Arts

CRSrenovationA walk down the hallways of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) on the first floor of Sims Hall reveals the unmistakable sights and smells of a freshly completed makeover: crisp paint, new carpeting and a lighter, brighter atmosphere. The improvements—along with numerous others—are part of a major five-month renovation to the department’s space that was made possible by a $1 million gift from the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation Inc., facilitated by Terry M. Skuse G’75, a member of the advisory council in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), in which CRS is housed.

The department will celebrate the completed renovations on Friday, Nov. 30, with Skuse, who is the parent of VPA alumni Brian ’04 and Jeffrey ’05, who majored in CRS.

“It gives me great pleasure to celebrate the renovations with the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and to recognize Terry Skuse and the Mangurian Foundation for their generosity,” says VPA Dean Ann Clarke. “A student’s education at our college is not only dependent on outstanding faculty, curricula and learning opportunities, but on an environment that encourages growth, collaboration and pride. You can feel a new energy and excitement within the department and on the first floor of Sims Hall.”

“The renovations have given the department a fresh, warm atmosphere as well as the advantages of cutting-edge technology,” says Amos Kiewe, professor of CRS and chair of the department, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. “The classrooms represent our future while still maintaining a link to our rich past.”

In addition to new carpeting and paint throughout, highlights of the renovation include:

• a large multi-purpose room with full technology, a mobile teaching station, easily movable chairs and tables and ample storage;
• new classroom desks with wheels and cup holders that can adapt to right- or left-handed students;
• a new suite for the department’s teaching assistants, featuring 12 individual workspaces, conference spaces and computer workstations;
• a computer lab for faculty and graduate students;
• frosted glass doors on faculty offices to allow more light into the hallway, with tack boards next to each door for each faculty member’s use;
• an updated main lobby with deacon benches and a cable-ready digital welcome screen featuring news and departmental announcements;
• a comfortable, welcoming seating area in the department’s main office for prospective students, families and other guests that features a bookcase to showcase faculty publications and an additional digital welcome screen; and
• the addition of slim, modern benches to the hallway outside the classrooms, as well as decorative wood paneling with cutouts that allow light from the classrooms into the hallway.

  • Author

Erica Blust

  • Recent
  • Newhouse Creative Advertising Students Win Big at Sports and Entertainment Clios
    Friday, May 30, 2025, By News Staff
  • Syracuse University Libraries’ Information Literacy Scholars Produce Information Literacy Collab Journal
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Syracuse Spirit on Display: Limited-Edition Poster Supports Future Generations
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By News Staff
  • Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025, By News Staff
  • Syracuse University, Lockerbie Academy Reimagine Partnership, Strengthen Bond
    Friday, May 23, 2025, By News Staff

More In Arts & Culture

Syracuse Stage Hosts Inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival

Syracuse Stage is pleased to announce that the inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival will be held at the theatre this June. Formerly known as the Cold Read Festival of New Plays, the festival will feature a work-in-progress reading and…

Light Work Opens New Exhibitions

Light Work has two new exhibitions, “The Archive as Liberation” and “2025 Light Work Grants in Photography, that will run through Aug. 29. “The Archive as Liberation” The exhibition is on display in the Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery at Light…

Spelman College Glee Club to Perform at Return to Community: A Sunday Gospel Jazz Service June 29

As the grand finale of the 2025 Syracuse International Jazz Fest, the Spelman College Glee Club of Atlanta will perform at Hendricks Chapel on Sunday, June 29. The Spelman College Glee Club, now in its historic 100th year, is the…

Alumnus, Visiting Scholar Mosab Abu Toha G’23 Wins Pulitzer Prize for New Yorker Essays

Mosab Abu Toha G’23, a graduate of the M.F.A. program in creative writing in the College of Arts and Sciences and a current visiting scholar at Syracuse University, has been awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for a series of essays…

School of Architecture Faculty Pablo Sequero Named Winner of 2025 Architectural League Prize

School of Architecture faculty member Pablo Sequero’s firm, salazarsequeromedina, has been named to the newest cohort of winners in the biennial Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers, one of North America’s most prestigious awards for young practitioners. “An…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.