Dedicated during Alumnae Weekend of 2008, the college’s first free-standing chapel is a Christian chapel welcoming people of all faiths.
Mission of the Chapel
The chapel is the spiritual center of our campus and affirms the importance of faith in our community of higher learning. It provides a space for prayer, contemplation and worship.
Accommodations and Location
The chapel seats approximately 110 and includes a multi-faith meditation room. It was constructed in the area of the former Snodgrass Amphitheatre and May Day Dell, and is approached from the Science Quad, the Alston Campus Center and the Bullock Science Center. Surrounding the chapel is a beautifully landscaped garden that provides vistas and spaces for gathering and meditation.
Chapel purpose
Primary uses of the chapel will be for worship services, for meditation and prayer, and for small religious study groups. Occasional lectures and concerts will be held in the chapel, and small weddings and memorial services will be accommodated. The Brombaugh Opus 31d organ, originally placed in the Thatcher Chapel, has been installed in the new chapel—a fitting location for this instrument, which is one of only six of its kind and will increase in value with the imminent retirement of John Brombaugh.
Donations
The Hal and John Smith Family Foundation provided the naming gift of $2 million. The chapel is named in honor of the late Julia Thompson Smith ’31, wife of the late Hal Smith, a generous donor and long-time chair of the college’s board of trustees.
The naming gift of $500,000 for the garden was given by trustee Jim Philips and his wife, Donna. The garden will be named in honor of his parents, Davison and Kay Philips '43.
Through the generosity of many alumnae and friends, the college has raised more than $7 million for the construction and endowed maintenance fund for the Julia Thompson Smith Chapel. An appropriate plaque in the chapel will acknowledge all gifts.