The Daily Gamecock

College of Social Work consolidating in Hamilton College

Hamilton College will see its completion this summer after undergoing a year of renovations, opening just in time for fall classes as a consolidated new home to the College of Social Work.

The Pendleton wing is being completely reworked, where an old gymnasium will be converted into two floors of classroom, lab and conference space. This renovation also features an addition of 1,000 square feet to create a new main entrance to the wing. 

Minor reconfiguration is being done in the Pickens wing, where offices and classrooms were located, to accommodate the Center for Academic Support. 

The University commissioned the Boudreaux Group to design renovations and additions to Hamilton, which is located on the corner of Pendleton and Pickens streets and consists of two conjoined structures. They were granted a budget of $17.5 million for the reconfiguration.

Though it is currently the smallest school with only 154 undergraduate students, the College of Social Work has for years been dispersed across campus in several different buildings, including DeSaussure and Sumwalt Colleges.

With this move, the potential for more identity on campus and closeness between faculty and students is high, College of Social Work dean Anna Scheyett told The Daily Gamecock in November.

"I think it'll be a positive change. I'm expecting that the faculty [will be] able to collaborate more and those students will have closer relationships with faculty because they'll be seeing each other more," Scheyett said. "I think that having a home will give us a stronger identity."

Hamilton College was built in 1941 and used for classroom space with a connected naval armory to accommodate the U.S. Navy training programs offered at the university. Before renovation, the two wings of the building housed a gymnasium and classrooms.


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