A Service of Naming: The Rita Anne Rollins Building
In recognition of the support of the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation of Atlanta, Emory University is naming the first phase of the new Candler School of Theology building in memory of the late Rita Anne Rollins. A special service of naming will take place in Cannon Chapel on January 16, 2013, from 11:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. in conjunction with Spring Convocation.
Emory University President James W. Wagner will give remarks, and James T. Laney, Emory’s president emeritus and former dean of Candler, will deliver the Convocation address. Past deans James Waits and Russell E. Richey will join Candler’s Dean Jan Love in attendance, along with members of the Rollins family.
Completed in 2008, the 65,000-square-foot Rita Anne Rollins Building houses Candler School of Theology classrooms, administrative and faculty offices, community gathering spaces, and Emory’s Center for Ethics. The building supports smart-room technology and reflects Emory’s architectural style and commitment to sustainability, featuring Italianate design with marble and stucco exteriors and a clay tile roof, as well as LEED silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. At the completion of Candler’s two-phase construction project, the Rita Anne Rollins Building will connect to the second part of the structure via a glass atrium.
Rita Anne Rollins was the first grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. O. Wayne Rollins, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. Randall Rollins. She died at the age of 17. In addition to the Rita Anne Rollins Building, a special events space is named for her at the Rollins School of Public Health.
Created by O. Wayne Rollins in 1967, the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation now encompasses four generations of the Rollins family working to continue its founder's original mission: supporting religious institutions that are important to the family and that espouse the spiritual, moral, and ethical principles of O. Wayne and Grace Rollins, and supporting medical research and public health issues at colleges and universities. Early major gifts to Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, the O. Wayne Rollins Research Building, and the Rollins School of Public Health exemplify the family’s commitment to serving humanity.