4-5 / 8
A CAMPUS THAT SUPPORTS
NEWWAYS OF THINKING
NURTURING THE
WHOLE STUDENT IN
WORTH HILLS
CULTIVATING THE MIND IN THE INTELLECTUAL COMMONS
Flexible, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial, the Intellectual Commons is where TCU’s students will learn to change the
future. Taking shape on the east campus, the development is designed to be the academic crossroads of the University.
Rees-Jones Hall
, adjacent to the
Mary Couts Burnett Library
and TCU’s first interdisciplinary building, is promoting
innovative thinking and discovery. A new west entrance to the library now provides access while a top-to-bottom repurposing
is completed. Across the Intellectual Commons, a new addition to the
Annie Richardson Bass Building
is supporting
Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences. A complete renovation of the original building will be complete for the spring
2015 semester.
The classical façades of these facilities speak to TCU’s heritage and traditions. Inside, there is some of the best technology
available anywhere. The spaces are larger and the class size smaller.
These new teaching and learning environments have moved far beyond simple incorporation of new digital gadgets. Instead
of taking lecture notes, students experience teacher-guided instruction and become more actively engaged in learning.
“Before, we’ve not had as many options to reconfigure the classrooms and to use basically any surface as a teaching
modality,” says Jimmie Borum, assistant professor of professional practice in Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences.
Living on campus is the key to a successful collegiate experience. Students who live in university housing are more fully
immersed in campus life. They can more easily take advantage of vital student services. By living on campus, undergraduates
learn some of the most important lessons that college has to teach.
More upper-level TCU students want to live on campus than space allows. Consequently, the University has created three
state-of-the-art facilities in Worth Hills:
Marion Hall, Pamela and Edward Clark Hall and Marlene Moss Hays
Hall
. A multipurpose facility will open in January 2015. Plans also call for a Greek Village and a parking garage.
The University intends to build residence halls until demand is met. Then every undergraduate who wishes to can have the
full TCU experience.
An architect’s rendering of the future Intellectual Commons shows the already completed addition to the Annie Richard-
son Bass Building (left), Rees-Jones Hall, which is also open (back right), and a proposed complex for the Neeley School
of Business that will be integrated with current facilities (center).
New facilities in Worth Hills are creating a residential environment to better support the traditional TCU experience and
students’ academic and social growth.
Plans for Worth Hills include residence halls, a
Greek Village
and a
multipurpose facility
.
Among many benefits, on-campus living enables
students to develop deep relationships with peers
and learn to work more effectively with others.
The 62,000-square-foot
Rees-Jones Hall
comprises
academic classrooms, faculty offices, interdisciplinary
space and an incubator lab. The building is home to
the Institute for Child Development, the TCU Energy
Institute and the IdeaFactory. A pedestrian air bridge
ultimately will connect Rees-Jones Hall and the Mary
Couts Burnett Library.
When not celebrating their new home on the first
day of the fall semester, Harris College students are
sharpening both practical and academic skills in
the 36,500-square-foot
Annie Richardson Bass
Building addition
, which features new learning
environments, patient simulators and other high-
tech equipment. When the renovation of the original
52,000-square-foot building is complete, students will
further benefit from a mini-hospital and an ambulatory
care clinic.
A new west entrance provides access to the
Mary
Couts Burnett Library
while the rest of the building
undergoes repurposing. While the architecture echoes
the original 1920s library, and its landscaping recalls
the signature reflecting pond, the latest information
technology will be available after extensive renovation
of the facility. In addition to extraordinary access to this
technology, Horned Frogs will benefit from person-to-
person guidance in how to use it and collaboration with
faculty, staff and other students.
Rees-Jones Hall is named in honor of the Jan and
Trevor Rees-Jones family of Dallas. The Rees-Jones
Foundation has provided extraordinary leadership
and support for the Institute of Child Development,
now located in the building. A $20 million gift from
the foundation in 2013 endowed the internationally
renowned institute.
BY LIVING ON CAMPUS, STUDENTS LEARN SOME OF THE
MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS THAT COLLEGE HAS TO TEACH.
At the dedication of the new
Marlene Moss
Hays Hall
, a new residence hall in Worth
Hills, are Dean Homer Erekson, Mary Alice
Hays Hughes, Spencer Hays, Marlene Hays and
Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. New Neeley
School facilities in the Intellectual Commons also
will be named for the couple.
4
5
REES-JONES HALL
ANNIE RICHARDSON
BASS BUILDING
ADDITION
MARY COUTS
BURNETT LIBRARY
WEST ENTRANCE
TAKING THE NEXT STEPS
Philanthropic support is key to realizing the Neeley School’s bold plan for the future — a well-thought-out vision of
collaborative and inventive teaching, learning and research, with a touch of technological magic to stir innovation and spur
the creation of new ideas.
A $30 million gift from Trustee Emeritus Spencer Hays and his wife, Marlene, is laying the foundation for this $100 million
expansion of the Neeley School in the Intellectual Commons to be called the
Marlene and Spencer Hays Business
Commons
. Architects have planned new east and south wings, a central atrium and office complex, auditorium, and north
connector. All will be constructed adjacent to the existing Neeley facilities and will be set off by a landscaped business quad.
With a snip of a ribbon, Rees-Jones Hall is dedicated. Participating in the ceremony are Cody Westfall, Chancellor Victor Boschini, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Clarence Scharbauer, Trustee Matt Rose, Provost Nowell
Donovan, David Rees-Jones, Jan Rees-Jones, Trustee Trevor D. Rees-Jones, Jenny and Trevor R. Rees-Jones, Terese Stevenson, Thornton “T.” Hardie, Trustee Kit Moncrief and Trustee Bruce Hunt.