As Katharine Cooper Cater Hall nears its 100th anniversary, plans for its renovations are underway.
The Auburn University Board of Trustees approved renovations for Cater Hall at its April 17 meeting.
Dan King, associate vice president for facilities management, presented the project to the board.
“Quite honestly, we’ve had some deterioration in the building,” King said.
Jim Carroll, University architect, said the project will be completed in two phases.
“The first phase is primarily exterior work,” Carroll said. “We plan to remove the current aluminum siding from the house. We’ll be either repairing or replacing the siding, we’ll be replacing windows in the exterior and we’ll build some ramps on the side of the building that is facing the green space.”
Carroll said the first phase is expected to end around the time the fall semester begins and will cost approximately $900,000.
The second phase will focus primarily on the inside of the building, according to Carroll.
“The interior work will mainly be in the wings of the building,” Carroll said. “We won’t be changing a lot in the central area of the building. We will work on the second phase throughout the year or next summer.”
Cater Hall, which now houses the Honors College, Interdisciplinary Studies Degree and Academic Counseling and Advising Center, was built in 1915 by Joseph Hudnut for $17,000.
It served as Auburn University’s original President’s Mansion until the current President’s Mansion was built in 1938.
Dwayne Cox, head of RBD special collections and archives, said the building housed several prominent people.
“It was occupied by several presidents of the University,” Cox said. “President Thach, President Dowell, President Knapp and President Duncan, who was the first president to occupy the new president’s home, all lived there.”
After the transition, it became known as the “Social Center,” and it served as the office and residence for the deans of women.
Cox said the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is named after one of its most notable occupants.
“At some point, the dean of women’s office was put in what is now called Cater Hall,” Cox said. “It was named after Katharine Cooper Cater, who was the dean of women here beginning shortly after World War II.”
Cater served as dean of women, social director and dean of student life during her 34 years at Auburn University.
Cater died in 1980, but was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame (AWHF) in 1988.
Cater’s ideas were ahead of her time, according to her AWHF nomination form.
“Dean Cater perceived the worth of each individual and saw women in changing roles,” the form reads. “She urged women to finish their educations. She encouraged women to prepare for careers, to be active politically and to see themselves as equal members of a society that was ever-expanding, exciting and bursting with opportunities.”
Cater, who worked at Auburn University during the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, said she saw changes in the overall mindset of her students in “Cater spends life with students,” a 1977 article written by Martha Tamblyn for The Auburn Plainsman.
“Some years ago, when I first arrived, women didn’t seem so concerned about getting a degree,” Cater said in the article. “Now women are much more career-oriented. This is what pleases me most about the changes I see in women students at Auburn.”
Former Auburn Trustee Morris Savage dedicated Cater Hall in 1980.
“Buildings are named for persons whose lives exemplify the purpose of the building,” Savage said at the dedication. “Katharine Cater’s love and compassion for individuals, her nourishment and support of women, her gaiety and wit permeate every
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