The construction of the new Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy on Cumberland Avenue is currently on track to be completed by February 2008. The new building is expected to be ready for use by the Fall of 2008.
The Howard Baker Center was originally brought to life by the U.S. Congress in 2001. Congress approved The University of Tennessee to use the proceeds from a congressional authorized Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education grant. The grant allowed the university to establish the center. To maintain and develop its future operations, the center is relying on donations.
Once completed, the center will allow UT to develop programs and promote research to expand the public’s knowledge and awareness of government operations and the importance of public services. One of the center’s main focuses is analyzing the influence of the media on society.
The center is dedicated to Howard H. Baker Jr., who was a U.S. senator representing the state of Tennessee from 1967 to 1985. He rose to national prominence when he served as vice chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee from 1973 to 1974. He also served as minority leader for the Senate from 1977 to 1981 and as majority leader from 1981 until the end of his third term in January 1985. During President Ronald Reagan’s presidency, he served as chief of staff from 1987 to 1988. Taking a 13-year hiatus from Washington DC, he worked in several Tennessee law firms and in 2001 was appointed U.S. ambassador to Japan.
The Center’s three main foci are: promoting and maintaining research in the Howard Baker Papers and other political collections at UT; hosting public programs to encourage discussion of issues of local, regional, national and international significance; and trying to engage students of all ages to better understand the American political system.
Nissa Dahlin-Brown, assistant director of the Baker Center, said the new building will aid in a better completion on these goals.
“We will provide important civic education with speakers and public programs on a variety of topics,” she said.
“Aside from the events, we will have a museum on how the three branches of our government work. The center will stress the importance to be…engaged in government, as we feel it is really important that people understand democracy and how it thrives.”
To further encourage political understanding and involvement, the Center recognizes honors students who achieve and maintain certain criteria and awards them the title of a Baker Scholar.
Brock Bosson, Doctor of Jurisprudence candidate (the law school’s most advanced law degree), is one such scholar.
“I cannot say enough about how important it is for the Baker Center to have such a prominent location on our campus. Through its outreach programs, its extensive political archives, and its nationally circulated public policy journal that will be first published this year, the Baker Center puts our university on the map as a distinguished research institution for public policy,” Bosson said. “The Baker Center’s new home will be a terrific centerpiece on campus because it will serve as place to receive our distinguished speakers and a place to train future leaders in public service.”
Some of the amenities to the new building will include a 200-person auditorium, rotunda, exhibit wing, board room, Howard Baker office suite, archives storage, courtyard, roof garden, research area, Baker Scholar room, two classrooms and three breakout rooms. The new center will also house an additional, much-needed classroom space for UT and will offer a new course in civic education.
Surviving solely on the endowment from the congressional grant, the Center accepts donations to help fund the construction. Construction updates and current events are regularly posted on the Center’s main Web site, http://www.bakercenter.utk.edu.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is in the works for the grand opening, the speaker for which is still to be announced.
